Never and Forever
by cutiechelsey
Summary: **2 new chapters in 3 days? However did I manage that?** Sarah fights for a better understanding when things turn out to be very different than they seemed....
1. This Is the Story of a Girl

A/N: Several things to clarify before we begin

A/N:No, this is NOT a sequel to For You.Sorry, you're going to have to wait a while more for that.This is S/J, because I could never write anything else.This is also, erm, strange.You have been warned.

Disclaimer:I own nothing Labyrinth related.Today's chapter title comes from "Absolutely" by Nine Days.

Never and Forever

Chapter One

This Is the Story of a Girl

It never occured to him that she'd be so foolish as to jump.

Everything had been going perfectly.Well, not quite perfectly.There was that dreadful escapade in the ballroom, but things as they were – it was to be expected.

Originally he thought she wouldn't make it very far.She had proved him wrong so fiercly it suprised him – he'd never expected some teenage girl that still played dress up to be a worthy opponent.And worthy she was.Always with some sly repartee to counter his biting remarks.And even with his slip-up during the masque, he should have won.The timing, the emotion, the setting... Not so much the emotion, he decided, but the setting, the setting was perfect.

He'd always been rather proud of the Escher Room.He hated to think that now it was disgraced – that song had been ridiculous, even if the girl had been too preocupied to listen.

Too bent on winning to think about the consequences of jumping off a fifty-foot high ledge.Her every thought was concentrated on the babe.He'd tried to distract her, but was only partially successful.All her little friends and their little problems had given him a shread of time.It should have been enough time.

There was nothing to be done about it now.She really was just a fool-hearty little girl.She may have thought she could defy him, but what in hell could have possessed her to jump?

~

"Well, should you need us..."Said Sir Didymus softly.

"I'll call."Sarah replied, her voice full of a confidence she did not possess.All too aware that time was running out, Sarah rushed up the stone stairs, concentrating on one thing:Toby.She would not allow that foul Goblin King to harm a hair on his head.She would not loose the little brother she had forgotten she loved.She would not be the one who gave away her father's only happiness since her mother had left.

She was not at all prepared for the room at the top of the stairs.For the room at the top of the stairs seemed nothing _but_ stairs, like something out of a dream.Or rather, something out of an Escher work.And then she saw Toby.

Running.Up stairs, down stairs, slamming her fists against the wall as she always seemed to get farther and farther away from her baby brother.That vile fae kept getting in her way, trying to waste her precious last minutes before time ran out.How could he be singing at a time like this?Weren't evil villians supposed to be cackling in the background at the last minute?Or launching spells, or sword-fighting, or doing something other than staring at her through clouded eyes and tossing his damned crystals around?Why couldn't she have recited an ordinary bedtime story that night?

Wait.There he was, on the ledge below her.The ledge a good five stories below her.What should she do?By the time she found a staircase down to him, he would have crawled away, far too curious for his own good.Well, she'd already defied gravity a few other times that day, and besides, things were not always as they seemed... 

~

He had been preparing for their final confrontation.He knew just how it would go.She would forget those crucial words – and he would win.But did he even want to win anymore?

Before he could dismiss that ridiculous idea, he looked up at her.She who was creating all this madness before him.He didn't need this, not now.And as much as he tried, he couldn't slow the thundering of his heart.The strangest thing was he could no longer tell if he was seething merely from hate, or from something different.Something very new to him altogether.

He saw her take that deep breath, and scrunch up her nose as if stealing herself up to do something she did not have quite the nerve to do.And as she bent her knees, he glanced at the babe, sitting precariously a good fifty feet below her.A sharp intake of breath escaped his throat, it was the only sound he had the time to make before she leapt.Perhaps if he had been watching her more closely, he would have known.Perhaps he could have warned her, saved her even.

He stood frozen, too far away to make any physical move to protect her, and too stuned at her stupidity to will his magic to do what he could not.She struck the rough stone floor on her hands and knees first, which only momentarily delayed her from striking her head against the solid ground as she collapsed.The babe turned and stared at her, wide-eyed.She lay sprawled against the masonry mere inches from him.Was she mad?Did she honestly think she would end up floating down to save her brother?

~

"Give me the child..."

"I have been generous, up until now.But I can be cruel."

"Through dangers untold..."

"You cowered before me, I was frightening..."

"And hardships unnumbered..."

"I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you..."

"I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city..."

"I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me..."

"For my will is as strong as yours..."

"Look what I'm offering you..."

"And my kingdom as great..."

"I ask for so little..."

"Damn..."

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave..."

"You have no power over me."

~

The blood pooled under her thick dark hair, spilling out toward the babe, who had begun to cry for the first time since he had come to the Underground.He instantly appeared by her side, lifting her crumpled form, unsure as to what exactly he was going to do with her.Through her brother's cries, he could faintly hear a clock chiming thirteen times.

"And to think she might have won if she hadn't been so rash."He said softly under his breath."Such a pity."

~

"And remember, Fair Maiden, should you need us... "Sir Didymus said sadly from inside the depths of her mirror.

"Yes, should you need us, for any reason at all..."Continued Hoggle, smiling his rather gruff smile in a hopeful sort of way.

"I need you Hoggle."Said Sarah softly.

"You do?"Hoggle asked, his voice cracking in disbelief.

"I don't know why, but every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you, all of you."

"You do?"Repeated Hoggle."Well then, why didn't ya say so?"Sarah whirled around to find her room full of everyone and everything she had met during her short excursion through the Labyrinth.Even those that she had considered enemies but a short time ago – goblins, firerys, and others guilty of deception.

The funny thing was, she didn't care.She was so happy, happy that now she could have the best of both worlds.She had saved Toby, the little angel who now slept peacefully in the next room, and was able to keep her friends.She ran around hugging all of them, laughing so hard she thought she might crack a rib.It was perfect, except – 

Except the Goblin King himself.She had thought of him too, as an enemy.So why was he not here as well, with all the other creatures she had fought against?He was different, she supposed to herself, while digging her Scrabble board out from under her bed.He was human, or mostly, anyways.He was prideful, and bitter, and probably hated the fact that he had lost.He probably hated her.

Sarah was surprised at the pang of grief she felt at that thought.He had really taught her something, though.If it weren't for him, Sarah thought while she was caravanting with the rest of the partiers, she wouldn't have recognized how important Toby was to her.She briefly felt the desire to thank him, but quickly pushed it away as she remembered what tactics he had used merely minutes before.The peach, the ballroom, the bog.Well, the bog was really rather silly, but the ballroom was all too real.He had toyed with her emotions.She would not forgive him for that, even if he was there.

~

Having finally decided that there was no other option but to leave the unconscious mortal girl on his bed until he could think of a better plan of action, the Goblin King drew the covers up around her, after waving his hand at the wound on her head, so she wouldn't bleed on his blankets.She had struggled against him for a bit as he carried her up to his chambers, as though she was having a very fitful nightmare.She muttered several uninteligable things, and though he had not a clue as to what she was saying, he could tell she was saying it quite passionatly.

As he turned to leave the room he noticed a comfortable smile curl onto her face, as though her nightmare had come to an end.Well at least she was happy.Not that she would be when she awakened, Jareth thought.And what was he to do with the babe?Under normal circumstances, he would become the newest member of the goblin society, but things seemed different, somehow.He had never had a wisher nearly kill themselves before.It had turned out to be quite an unusual day.

~

Sarah curled into bed that night, only faintly noticing that her head was throbbing.Her friends were gone, the party had ended, and though her room was in a state of disaster, it would have to wait until tomorrow, regardless of what kind of fits Karen would have.

And so Sarah slept, both in her dream world and the real one – if the Underground can be considered the real world – not knowing that she had truly lost, that things were not as they seemed.

A/N 2:Okay, so here's where I get all apprehensive and think to myself "oh this is bad, I shouldn't have posted this, what are people going to think???"So be nice and calm my fears (or encourage them, depending on you opinion) and review.


	2. Everything I Can't Remember

Never and Forever

Disclaimer:Of course I own none of this, and today's chapter title is from "It's Been Awhile," by the unrivaled Staind.

Never and Forever

Chapter Two

Everything I Can't Remember

_Must get up and clean.Must get up and clean_.The mantra ran clearly through Sarah's head as she lay in bed, her eyes clenched shut though she was awake.She knew she had to get up and get moving, otherwise Karen would have a total panic attack when she walked through Sarah's door._You'd be surprised how big a mess goblins can make, especially since they aren't supposed to exist._Sarah thought to herself.Eyes still closed, she stretched lazily.Her bed was far too comfortable for her to get up, the silky sheets wrapped around her body – wait a minute.

_The fact that I have cotton sheets is not important,_ she rationalized to herself._I am not going to panic._

Sarah's eyes shot open and she choked back a scream as she looked around her.She was in a dark oak bed, with dark blue sheets and a room with many more elegant details that Sarah failed to care about.All she knew was that this was most definitely not her room.

Scrambling out of the bed, heart pounding a mile a minute and the back of her head throbbing, her eyes widened to the size of small dinner plates as they locked on the stone walls, which looked distinctly medieval.

"No."Sarah stumbled to an open balcony, faintly wondering why her legs were so wobbly.She gasped when she saw the expanse of the Labyrinth, stretching out before her."No!"She cried, stifling a sob.

Sarah ran to the first door she saw and wrenched it open, running out into the open hallway before her. She held onto the wall for support as she raced to some unknown destination, she only wanted out and away, away from this waking nightmare.She had not gotten that far when she heard a sound all too familiar to her ears.A sound that made her hyperventilate, that made her heart beat so frantically she thought it might beat its way out of her ribcage.The sound of a crystal, rolling across the stone floor.

"Go away."She ordered the crystal as it softly struck her foot and bounced up into her hand.Wanting desperately to throw the crystal far away from her, Sarah was suddenly mesmerized by the picture she saw within its depths.A scene began to play for her, one she recognized at first.

She saw herself, on what she thought was the night before, standing at the entrance of the Escher Room.The crystal-Sarah ran up and down the stairs, while that contemptible Goblin King got in her way.She saw herself jump down to her brother – and then her heart lurched as she saw herself strike the ground with a harsh blow.Sarah dropped the crystal as though it was burning hot, and it rolled back down into the hall's shadowy passages.

"No."Sarah whispered softly."I defeated him, I did."She gingerly touched the aching part of her head, and found her hair to be rigid and crisp with dried blood.Looking down at herself she discovered she was not wearing the sweatpants and tank top she had donned the night before, but a white nightgown that hung around her knees.

"We did not know you were awake, Miss."Sarah goggled at the cheerful elf that had appeared before her."You will come back to your room, yes?"A thousand thoughts ran through Sarah's head, but nothing made sense."Is Miss all right?"Enquired the innocent elf.

"Where is he?"Sarah growled thickly.

"Where is who, Miss?"Asked the elf, with the distinct air of someone avoiding the question.

"That damned Goblin King."Sarah demanded, her hands shaking at her sides, and a thin bead of sweat across her forehead.

"Have you forgotten my name already?"Came an archly superior voice.

"What the hell is going on?"Sarah yelled, forcing herself to focus on the fae that had come stepping out of the shadows that he seemed to bend upon his will.

"My, such coarse language."Jareth commented dryly.

"Jareth –"

"Ah, so your fall didn't addle your brains.Pity."The elf slipped away down the hall, clearly not wanting to be involved in the argument that was about to ensue.

"I defeated you!I said the words, I went home... Toby!Where's Toby?"Sarah shouted, leaning heavily against the wall now.

"Sarah, did you not see what happened in the crystal?You very nearly killed yourself."

"But I remember saying the words."

"You were dreaming."Jareth said offhandedly, as though he dealt with this sort of thing every day.

"You have no power over me!I said it before and I'll say it again."

"I'm afraid you're forty-eight hours too late.You're here to stay."

"I have to get Toby!"Sarah cried, trying to force her way past Jareth but too unsteady to get far.

"Calm yourself child.You lost a lot of blood and are obviously rather hysterical.Don't force me to do something you'll regret."Jareth said warningly, grabbing Sarah by the shoulder to prevent her from going anywhere.

"Stay away from me!"Sarah screamed, tears threatening to break down the walls she had built up.She backed away from Jareth's grasp and stumbled.He pulled her back by her elbow, not as gently as before."Stay the hell away!"

"Sarah," Jareth said, and his voice had gone cold and dangerous.With a wave of his free hand he conjured a crystal and held it out for her to see.

"What have you done with Toby?"Sarah demanded."You haven't..."

"I'm afraid I've been too busy with other occupations to attend to that particular task."Jareth answered, chuckling.

"You have to give him to me."Sarah pleaded desperately."You have to."

"You cannot always have your way, Sarah.You asked me to take the babe, and I did so.You asked to traverse my Labyrinth, and I allowed it.I let you live out your fairy tale, but now the game is over.Don't fret," he added as an afterthought, "I'll let you say good-bye to him before he changes."

"Monster!"Sarah screeched, slapping Jareth hard across the face with the hand he was not holding.At that Jareth let his crystal drop, and grasped Sarah roughly by the wrists, pushing her up against the wall.

"Must you always be this difficult?"He growled.The room flashed before Sarah's eyes and before she could blink she found herself back in _his_ bed, with Jareth standing menacingly over her."Stay."He commanded."Sleep.No harm will befall your brother, and that I swear."

Sarah, head aching miserably and skin drenched with a fever-induced sweat, had used up all her remaining strength in this confrontation and could not fight that sickening King any more, and collapsed against his pillows, falling into unconsciousness.

Jareth brushed his hair back from his forehead, sighing."This will not be easy."

~

Sarah awoke feeling cooler, and calmer.A barrage of memories flooded to her instantly, and her hands clutched frustratedly at the silken sheets around her.The sound of Toby's laugh forced her to open her eyes and face whatever it was that she would find.

Toby had a big smile on his cherubic face, laughing and innocently toying with a perfect crystal.Jareth was lounging comfortably on the end of his bed, holding Toby in his lap and making the crystal turn different colours.Neither of them looked at Sarah as she sat up in his bed.

"I told you I'd let you say good-bye."Jareth said shortly after a moment's silence.He glanced up at her briefly, a strange look in his eye, as though he were waiting for her to do something.

"You can't do it."Sarah pleaded, and though she was no longer feverish she fell back on the same persuasions as before."Please, there must be something.You just can't."

"Why not?You forfeited the game, Sarah, leaping off the ledge like that."He said it coldly, and the look in his eyes told her he expected more of her."Never happened before."He added.

"How was I supposed to know that that would be the one time the Labyrinth chose to obey the law of gravity?"Sarah spat angrily.

"I'm afraid I don't follow you."Jareth replied, though no look of confusion broke through his mask of disinterest.

"When I fell into the oubliette I wasn't hurt –"

"I put the hands there to help you."Jareth interrupted, waving off her statement, only briefly considering the deeper meaning his words carried.

"When I fell into the bog –" Sarah started again.

"That was a slide, not a five story drop."

"Out of the ballroom!"

"That was an illusion.You cannot get hurt from an illusion."

"This whole place is an illusion!"Sarah cried angrily."You aren't real, you're from a fairy tale."

Anger flashed in Jareth's eyes."I am very, very real, Sarah."He said in a low, sharp voice.Sarah fought the urge to hide under the covers, reminding herself of how important the stakes were of this game.

"Well nothing else hurt me in your damned maze, how was I supposed to know?You were the one walking on walls."

"How true."Jareth commented slowly, apparently thinking things over."Are you truly willing to bargain?"He asked.

"Yes."Sarah said quickly, jumping out of his bed and reaching out for Toby.

"Fine."Jareth said, carefully picking Toby up to keep him out of Sarah's reach.He plucked the crystal from the babe's grasp, much to Toby's dismay."Find this crystal in thirteen hours, and your brother shall go home."A mocking smile spread across his lips as he tossed the crystal out through the balcony doorway.Sarah rushed out onto the open balcony, watching the crystal as it sailed over the Labyrinth and fell down through the trees near some sort of river.She turned back to Jareth, and found Toby nowhere to be seen.

"Just another example of your generosity."Sarah snapped, before brushing past Jareth, out of his chambers and into the hallway she had traversed a few hours before.

"My thoughts exactly."Jareth replied softly, though Sarah was out of earshot.

~

An hour later, Sarah was lost.Lost inside Jareth's castle, with its many twisting hallways and locked doors.In fact, Sarah had yet to find a door that was unlocked, and was beginning to feel quite defeated.

"This is not at all how this is supposed to go."Sarah muttered under her breath, stomping down the hallway and practically tripping over a goblin that had been walking calmly and precisely toward her.

"Art thou lost, Lady?"He asked politely.Sarah stared at the goblin.Granted, she hadn't met many goblins in her life, but this one seemed to contradict all she had learned about them in the past, well, it had actually been days since she had first entered the Labyrinth._Oh no.I wonder how much time has passed back home?_Sarah thought anxiously.The goblin smirked at Sarah, and tapped his foot sharply against the floor, capturing her attention."Doth the Lady require a guide?"He pressed.

"That depends on where you'll guide me."Sarah snapped, frustrated at her situation and confused on this goblin's excellent manners and hygiene.

"That depends on where you wish to go."

"Well I want to get the hell out of this castle."Sarah sighed exasperatedly."If you could take me out to the Goblin City, I'd appreciate it."

"But of course."Smiled the goblin, and started walking back the way Sarah had come.She stared after him for a minute,but being unable to think of any course of action other than to follow, she ran to catch up with him.

They walked for half an hour at least, the goblin striding so briskly with his little legs that Sarah practically had to run to keep up with him.She stopped dead, however, when they came to the one door she recognized in the castle.

"You little sneak!"Sarah cried angrily."You took me back to the bedroom of that King of yours!"

"Must you be so suspicious of all?"The goblin asked calmly.He stopped just short of the Goblin King's door, and lightly tracing his fingers over a stone slightly darker than the rest.A great section of the wall jumped backwards, and opened up a dimly lit passageway.Sarah followed the goblin through, and within five minutes they were standing outside in the sun, in a garden separating the castle from the city.

"Thank you."Sarah said sheepishly, turning and walking away from the castle."And I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Not at all."The goblin replied, but sounding not quite like he did before.His voice sounded strangely cultured, and much older than he did before."But Sarah?"And at this, Sarah whirled around to find the Goblin King himself in the goblin's place."Not everyone here is out to deceive you."He laughed with a superior tone, before stepping back into the castle, the door they had came out of shutting, and then disappearing all together.

Sarah stared at the wall crossly."Yeah, only you are."She said softly, before walking out into the Goblin City.It was shortly after dawn and two hours into her time, and the city was relatively quiet.The gravel road rubbed harshly against her bare feet, and she felt more than a little uncomfortable roaming the streets in a skimpy nightgown.She found a solution to these problems, among other things, when she saw a familiar face bent over a flowerbed.

"Hoggle?"Sarah called, running up to her friend, and quickly regretting this decision as the gravel ripped at the bottoms of her feet.

"Sarah?"Hoggle looked up uncertainly.He didn't seem as surprised to see her as Sarah thought he would.

"Hoggle, I need your help.I'm trying to – "

"I know what yer tryin' to do."Hoggle said, cutting her off."But I cannot help yeh."

"What?"Sarah cried, looking insulted."Did that vile Goblin King say something to you?What did he –"

"It's not that."Hoggle said, squaring his jaw determinedly."It's jest, yeh have teh defeat him yerself, like yeh said."

"But this is different."Sarah said, her heart slowly sinking at her friend's refusal.

"Yes it is."Hoggle agreed, but he still didn't seem to change his position.

"Fine."Sarah spat."Can you at least help me get some decent clothes or shoes?"

"Now that I can."Hoggle said, brightening.Sarah had no idea where his sudden burst of integrity had come from, but still felt certain that a particular fae with a golden mohawk wasn't far behind."Follow me."Hoggle said, beckoning her toward a strip of just-opening shops.

As the town began to wake up, Sarah realized that the Goblin City was not made up entirely of goblins.Or at least not the comical, miniature ones she had seen on her way into the castle.The streets were also bustling with dwarves and elf-life creatures, and some nasty species that Sarah could only call demons.

"Ay, Taria!"Hoggle called out as they entered a small seamstress shop.An elfish woman stepped out from behind a curtain, smiling when she saw Hoggle.

"Hoggle, how are you this fine day?"Taria asked, eyeing Sarah's nightgown and bare feet.

"Ah've been better."Hoggle said shortly, then turning to Sarah, continued."D'yeh think yeh could fix this little lady up with some propah clothes?"

Shortly thereafter Sarah and Hoggle left Taria's store, Sarah now dressed in a simple medieval dress of a deep wine colour, and matching slippers, which she had been assured were extremely durable.

"Yer on yer own now, Sarah."Hoggle said gently, as though he was having quite a time agreeing with himself.

"Thanks for your help Hoggle."Sarah said, almost adding on "and I'll call if I need you."_That was just a dream._She had to remind herself.It still seemed so real...

Glancing up Sarah's eyes fell upon a clock tower."Great."She said, to no one in particular."I've spent my first three hours being lost and socializing."With that she broke into a run, trying to find an entrance to the Labyrinth that might take her in the direction of the river she had seen the crystal fall over.Finally coming to a wrought iron archway, through which stone walls towered, a clear sign of the Labyrinth, Sarah paused at the entrance._Can I really get through this again?_The doubt flitted uncalled for through her mind.

"Afraid you cannot get through this piece of cake again?"Asked a voice in her ear.Sarah jumped, spinning around to find Jareth mere inches from her, his telltale smirk spread across his face.

"Don't do that."Sarah said, not that she expected him to listen to her.

"Allow me to give you some sporting advice."Jareth continued, with a superior air."Do not go in the river."

"And I'm supposed to believe you, why?"Sarah snapped, becoming very frustrated that the Goblin King kept appearing at every turn.

"Believe what you wish."Jareth said nonchalantly, striding past her and into the Labyrinth, fading as he walked until he disappeared completely.

"Doesn't he have anything better to do than harass me?"Sarah sighed, reluctantly tracing his footsteps into the Labyrinth, and taking the first turn she saw, to get as far away as fast as possible.

~

The changeling owl flew briefly over the Labyrinth; spying the girl as she marched down the corridors, not minding what direction she was going._She is positively exhausting._He thought to himself, before turning back to the castle._Other matters to attend to, other women to deal with._He sighed silently.

~

"Sarah?"Robert Williams called out as he and his second wife walked into their home, sometime shortly after midnight."We're home!" 

"Did you like the ballet, dear?"Karen asked him teasingly.

"I don't understand what it is with you women and ballets.Sarah loves to go to them too – maybe next time you can bring her with you.I promise she won't fall asleep."

Karen's smile faded at that comment."We'd kill each other before intermission."She said grimly.

"Sarah?Are you home?"Robert called, rather than acknowledge what his wife had said.There was no answer.Karen and Robert glanced at each other uncertainly.The house was lit, but quiet.

Robert bounded up the stairs, Karen following quickly in his wake.He ran down the hall to Sarah's room, quietly opening the door, in case his daughter was asleep.The room was empty.

"Robert!Robert, hurry!"Karen yelled from their bedroom.The room was dark, their son's crib was empty, and the window was wide open, a soft breeze blowing in and tossing the curtains about.

"Sarah!"Robert yelled, fear clutching at his heart as he ran back down the stairs."Karen, call the neighbors and see if they've seen something.I'll check around outside.Sarah???"


	3. Now I Can Breathe Again

A/N: Some of you have mentioned that Sarah seems a little, er, unstable Gateway Normal Gateway 2 880 2001-11-09T23:16:00Z 2001-11-09T23:16:00Z 6 2594 14790 123 29 18163 9.2720 

A/N:  This chapter is un-beta-ed, so that I could get it to you ASAP.  Enjoy.

Disclaimer:  Today's chapter is brought to you by (shudder) Jennifer Lopez, as I refuse to call her by that _other_ name, in the song "I'm Real" (the remix, that is.)  Surprise, surprise, I still don't own Labyrinth or any of it's characters.  I'll let you know when I do.

Never and Forever

Chapter Three

Now I Can Breathe Again

            "Okay."  Sarah said aloud, stopping to get her bearings.  "The river looked westish of the castle.  And the castle," she said, turning to face it.  "Is southish of me.  I think.  Which means..."  She paused, looking around.  "That I'm going in the totally wrong direction.  Argh."  Sarah sighed, frustrated.  "I'm beginning to severely dislike this game."

            Sarah looked up the passage, then back down again.  "I think left would be the best option here.  Which means there probably won't be a left turn for ages.  Maybe I passed one?"  She mused to herself softly, backtracking a few steps, still glancing both in front and behind her, to make sure that no dead-ends suddenly popped up.  Eyes scanning the walls for some sort of hidden opening, she noticed a small chink in the wall.

            "_Pretty."  She breathed softly, peering through the hole.  The landscape on the other side of the wall was breathtaking, something downright inconceivable to Sarah's mind.  A light, soft forest ran around the edges of some crumpled stonewalls.  Wildflowers peeked above the feathery grass, fluffy clouds hovered lightly above.  The scene looked positively, well, __human._

            "I want in."  Sarah sighed softly, stepping back and running her forefinger around the crevice, which was slightly larger than a half dollar.  Or was it?

            Sarah stared curiously as the hole wavered, its edges blurring and becoming smaller, than larger.  With a sharp _SNAP_ the hole closed itself tightly around her finger.

            "Shit!"  Sarah gasped, trying to wrench her finger free.  The hole had trapped her finger tightly, though not painfully, and she could not pull it out.  "Let go!"  Sarah yelled at the wall, pulling so hard she thought her finger would sooner break away from her hand than the wall.  "Let me go, damnit!"

            What if she never got free?  Then Toby would be condemned to life as a goblin, and she would be permanently part of the scenery.  What if the Goblin King saw her like this?  That would be far too embarrassing, Sarah thought, and desperately continued trying to yank her finger free.

            "What did I ever do to you, you stupid wall?"  Sarah cried angrily, slapping her free hand against the rough surface.  Sarah looked around desperately, for someone, something, anything to help her.  But the way her finger was still tightly wedged within the wall suggested that nothing short of gnawing it off would win her freedom.

            More alarming still was the fact that the Labyrinth had changed the minute her back had turned.  From out of nowhere, two walls had closed up the sides, locking her in a relatively small box.

            "What would I do even if I could get loose?"  Sarah spat, stilling her struggles to catch her breath.  The moment she relaxed, the grip the wall had on her finger seemed to slacken.  "What are you, a Chinese finger trap?"  Sarah asked in surprise.  Gently she wedged her finger in deeper, than slowly pulled away.  Her finger slid away from the hole as easily as if it had never been trapped there.  Sarah brushed the dirt off her hands, and looked around her once again, though her surroundings had not changed.  Four solid walls all around, except for that extremely dangerous chink.

            Glancing around, Sarah realized that light began to pour from that little hole.  In fact, the hole was not so little anymore, and getting less little by the second.  It soon widened into a sweeping doorway, which Sarah dodged through quickly, so as not to be trapped again.  She stepped out into the clearing on the other side, and as soon as she was through the wall closed up entirely with a soft sucking sound.

            This other side of the wall was not remotely Labyrinth-ish at all.  The crumbly walls, Sarah realized, looked like ruins of some old building, a giant one at that.  A sharp wind was rustling the leaves on the trees, and Sarah could hear some low voices coming from inside the rubble.

            Carefully picking her way through partly standing walls and rotting furniture, Sarah saw a group of short, burly men surrounding a fire. 

            "Patience and Gratitude my foot."  One of them was saying to the others.  "One of these days they'll get the lot of us killed, right they will – oye!  Who are you?"  The last question was directed at Sarah, of course.

            "My name is Sarah."  She answered, eyeing the men warily.  She got the distinct impression that they were not men at all, but trolls, or something equally displeasing.  "I was wondering if you could give me directions."

            "And what's so wrong with where you are?"  The troll replied quickly.

            "Nothing's _wrong _with it."  Sarah answered, blushing.  "It's just that I'm trying to get somewhere and I don't have much time –"

            "Nonsense.  I suppose you're one of Jareth's girls, then?  You'll have plenty of time to get to the castle, don't you worry."  Interrupted another, significantly fatter troll with mud stains all over his clothes.

            "I am not one of Goblin King's anything, thank you very much.  And the last place I want to get to is the castle."

            "Well that's too bad then."  Laughed a young looking one.  "You're already here."

            "What?"  Sarah asked, looking around.  She could see the castle in the distance, far and imposing.

            "They never know their history, do they?"  The first one said to the others, who all nodded agreeingly, before turning back to Sarah.  "Name's Hadian.  And what Glant over there meant was that this is a castle.  Or it used to be, afore the fire."

            "Fire?"  Sarah repeated despite herself.

            "Yep.  This used to be the royal castle, but then the Queen went bloody insane.  You can see the damage."  Hadian explained, gesturing to the ruins around them.

            "Queen?"  Sarah seemed to be limited to one-word sentences at the moment, her inane curiosity battle with her need to finish her quest.

            "Jareth's mother, is wot I'm meaning."  Hadian replied, smiling to reveal a mouthful of green teeth.  "Always on the vindictive side, never took her to be the homicidal type though.  Rumor has it she killed the King – meaning Jareth's father, acourse – "

            "Not that we'd believe summat like that."  Declared Glant as though this was something to be proud of.  Hadian shot his a look of disdain, before continuing.

            "No matter wot happened, Jareth and his mother had a falling out a few years back when they got in the fight to end all fights.  Spells flying all over til the castle right collapsed around them.  Now the Lady's taken refuge in the Elf Kingdom, and Jareth's become King..."

            "Enjoy your history lesson?"  Quipped another troll.  The group of them laughed, as though this sort of thing happened all the time.

            "Actually, yes."  Sarah said, still processing the gamut of information.  "But I really need to get to a river I saw from the castle.  Is it anywhere around here?"

            "You're on the right track."  Haidan answered.  "There's a path that goes thattaway through the trees," he said, pointing.  "Tisn't really much of a forest, and if you follow the trail through the fields, you'll come to river right quick."

            "Thanks."  Sarah smiled, fighting back the urge to say 'this will be a piece of cake.'  It had gotten through her thick skull that the vile King didn't like to be taken for granted...

            "Sarah?"  Sarah looked up suddenly, and saw Haidan beckoning her away from the other trolls.  Sarah ran to catch up with him, as he strode out of the ruins and towards the trees.  "See, just go straight through there –"  He was saying, then lowered his voice once she got near.  "I probably shouldn't be saying this."  He murmured under his breath.  "Against the rules, or summat, but whatever you do, don't go in the water.  Got me?"  Sarah only nodded.  "Atta girl."  Haidan said, louder this time, and turned and walked back to his company.

~

            "Don't go in the river.  Stay away from the river.  Does the Goblin King really think I'm that stupid?"  Sarah grumbled as she followed the path through a meadow with wildflowers and grass up to her waist.  "He probably put Haidan up to saying that.  Although," she said, standing on her tiptoes to see further ahead, "I think that's water up there."  Sarah started running, and true enough, there the river was, not too far away.  

            "Yes!  Yes!"  Sarah cried, leaping up in the air ballerina-style as she ran.  "It's only, what, six hours into the game and I've found what I'm looking for!  This is... what was that?" 

            Sarah skidded to a halt, her ears picking up on a distant noise.  "Oh no."  Sarah sighed.  "No no no no.  I'm just going to ignore it."  She told herself firmly, though now she was walking more slowly.  "I have no obligations.  I'm going to that river, and I'm getting the crystal.  No detours.  No pit-stops.  One child is enough, I will not turn around, I do not care.... Damn conscience!"  Sarah swore, turning away from the river and off the path all together to follow the sound of a crying child.

            She ran through the field, blades of wheat whipping across her forearms, her feet constantly getting tangled in the underbrush.  Suddenly she crashed through to a small, not quite circular clearing in the field, in the centre of which were several large, blue-gray boulders.  On the middle and largest boulder, sat a goblin girl, quite clearly sobbing her eyes out.  Sarah couldn't help but roll her eyes.  If she had to deal with one more crying child today...

            "Hey, sweetheart, what's wrong?"  Sarah asked gently, kneeling down next to her.  The girl could have been six or seven, at least if she were human she could have been.  And she did look rather human at that, but her pointed ears, heart shaped face, and large eyes all gave her a rather otherworldly look.  Sarah was quickly learning, however, that the Labyrinth had no end to its eccentric inhabitants.

            "I'm lost."  Sniffed the girl softly.  "I was playing steal-the-babies with my brothers and ran out into the Labyrinth to hide, and now I can't find my way back."

            _Don't._  Sarah's mind warned her._  I  know she's cute and pathetic, but unless you want your brother to grow up to look like her, you can't help her.  You can't._

            "I can try and help you find your way home."  _Idiot._  "I don't know the maze very well, but I'm sure we can figure it out together."  _Now you've done it.  Damn sense of good-will._

            "Really?"

            "Sure.  My name's Sarah.  What's your name?"

            "Arianna.  But only my mummy calls me that.  My brothers call me Ari."

            "Well, how about we get out of this field, Ari?"  Sarah said, smiling reassuringly and offering Ari her hand.

            "Okay Sarah."  Ari replied, wiping off her tears with the back of her hand.

            "Come here and I'll give you a piggy-back ride so you won't get stuck in the grass."

            "A what?"

            "Just come here."  Sarah laughed.  _Here we go._  She though grimly.  _Do-Good Sister Sarah will never find her way back to the river again.  Oh well.  I've still got seven more hours._

~

            "Robert, no one's seen them at all tonight.  None of her friends have talked to her, though Mrs. Kelley swears she saw a man fly through the window, but she is a bit batty, what does she think, that a robber flew inside?"

            "Karen, you're babbling."

            "I know, dear, I know."  Karen said, breathing deeply and trying to calm down.  "I just feel so horrible, we had that fight before we left – what if she's gone and done something she'll regret?"

            "Karen, this is Sarah we're talking about.  She's smart, and if she's in any kind of trouble she'll figure something out.  I'm just going to go call the police – "

            "The police!"

            "Well of course the police!  Who do you expect me to call when our children are missing?"  Robert yelled, throwing his hands up in the air with exasperation.

            "Robert, please don't yell at me."  Karen requested quietly.  Robert winced at his wife's soft reprieve.

            "I'm sorry, dear, I am.  I'm just so, so..."

            "Scared?"

            "I'll go call the police."  Robert said, striding out of the room to leave his wife's last remark hanging in the air.

~

            "So how old are you, Ari?"  Sarah asked, in the sugar-sweet tone she usually reserved for Toby.  The two of them walked hand-in-hand throughout the brightly lit forest on the other side of the castle ruins.  Sarah, after deciding that she would definitely be investing in a compass once she got home, was following her instincts and hanging onto a mere hope that they were going in the right direction.  Sunlight poured in around them, reflecting off Ari's golden hair and deep green eyes.

            "One hundred and seventeen."  Ari replied, smiling up at Sarah.  "How old are you?" 

            "I'll be sixteen next month."  Sarah said quickly, her voice loosing the supposedly kindly, though more condescending edge.  "I'm not from around here."  She said, answering Ari's unspoken question.

            "Is that baby up in the castle yours?"

            "Yes.  I mean, no, he isn't _mine," Sarah stumbled over her words at the thought of Toby.  "I'm his sister."  She declared finally._

            "Why'd you wish him away?"  Ari asked with wide-eye innocence.  "Was he bad?"

            "I don't really know why I said it.  He didn't deserve it."  Sarah answered sadly.

            "No, he didn't."  Came an arrogant voice from behind them.  "And you did it because you're a spoiled brat."

            Sarah turned to find the Goblin King, leaning casually against a dying tree trunk close by.  Very close by.  So close by that Sarah couldn't help but lock eyes with him for a moment, and hear her own breath echo in her ears, fast and sharp.  Ari broke into an even wider smile, and then as though very keen to show off, swept into a shaky curtsey.

            "Hello King Jareth."  She said politely, and Jareth's smile turned quite genuine.

            "Hello, Arianna.  What are you doing out here in the middle of the Cassiopian Forests with this vagabond?"

            "Excuse me?"  Sarah cried indignantly.  "I am not a vagabond, and I am certainly not a spoiled brat."  Jareth's smile turned into a smirk, as though she had just proven his point.

            "I'm sorry, is the phrase tempestuous bitch to your preference?"  He asked congenially.  

            "You have –"  Sarah started to splutter, before the Goblin King smoothly interrupted her.

            "I dearly regret that I cannot stand here listening to you whine, Sarah, but you have a crystal to find, and I do believe you've only five hours left.  I merely came to take the child off your hands."

            "Not a chance!"  Sarah exclaimed, pulling Ari closely to her side.  Ari was watching the entire conversation silently, and looked to be quite torn between the two.  "I know what happened last time I let you near a child, I won't let it happen again."

            "Sarah, Ari is already a goblin.  I won't do her any harm."

            "Go to hell."  Sarah said shortly, turning away and marching down the path, still holding Ari by the hand.  Sarah's heart was pounding, and her cheeks were burning.  _Just walk away and breath.  She ordered herself.  __That's not hard, is it?  The goblin girl looked once over her shoulder and waved to Jareth, a wistful look in her eyes.  _

            He sighed, and shook his head, white-blond strands castcading across his face, disguising his expression.

~

            "This is my house, right over here."  Ari exclaimed happily, at least an hour later.  They had traversed through the forest without much further incident, except for some rodents of unusual size, at which point Sarah had swept Ari up in her arms and run with impressive speed.  The forest had dissipated and turned into the edge of the Goblin City, after which Ari had been able to lead the way.

            Sarah's thoughts were only dismal as they reached Ari's house.  She didn't have enough time to go back the way she came, find the crystal and then – what exactly was she supposed to do even if she did find the crystal?  Damn that fae for making the rules so ambiguous.  Whatever happened to rewarding good deeds anyways?

            "Arianna?"  An old looking hag looked up sharply from the pacing she had been doing on her front porch.  She had nearly run ruts into the dirt.  "Arianna, is that you?"

            "Mummy!"  Ari yelled, and ran into the hag's arms, almost knocking the poor goblin over.

            "Arianna, how many times have I told you not to go into the Labyrinth alone?  You're not old enough to find you're own way out again!"  Ari's mother began, lecturing her eagerly though still clutching her tightly.

            "Leggo, mummy."  Ari laughed, slipping out of her grasp and running back over to Sarah.  "This is Sarah."  Ari explained, leading Sarah over to her home.  "She brought me back.  She's a mortal girl."

            "Yes, I can see that."  Her mother said quietly.  She knew the only reason mortals came to the Labyrinth.  "Thank you for helping my little girl.  The castle is right through there, you know –"

            "I'm not going to the castle, actually."  Sarah said helplessly.  "I've been trying to get to this river, but I'm afraid my time will be up before I can get there..."

            "A river?"  Ari's mother interjected.  "Why, the Poseidon runs by right behind that wall, if that's the one your looking for."

            "Right behind..."  Sarah trailed off, feeling ridiculously stupid.  She had started out right next to it and hadn't even known!  "Thank you."  She replied hurriedly, before running off to the opening in the wall Ari's mother had indicated, and finding the Poseidon, the river she had seen the crystal fall into, right on the other side.

            "Sarah's a nice girl, mummy.  Aren't mortals funny lookin' though?  And she said she was only sixteen.  She said she wished her brother away.  I wish I could wish my brothers away, then they wouldn't make fun of me anymore..."  Ari chattered away as her mother listened quietly and pulled her inside the house. 


	4. Don't Let Me Let You Go

Never And Forever Gateway Normal Gateway 2 138 2001-11-11T19:13:00Z 2001-11-11T19:13:00Z 5 1832 10445 87 20 12827 9.2720 

A/N:  I realize this is short, but this story needed to get moving, damnit!  And I realized that I have neglected thanking my lovely beta-reader, the ridiculously supportive Lauralee.  Lots of love and cookies!

Disclaimer:  Wow, this gets old fast.  "Hi, my name is Chelsey"  "Hi, Chelsey!"  "And I, *sob* I don't own Labyrinth.  I don't!  Just get off my back, okay!"  Ahem.  Anyways, today's chapter title is from Eve 6, "Here's to Tonight"

Never And Forever

Chapter Four

Don't Let Me Let You Go

            Sarah ran right up to the riverbank, peering into the depths of the Poseidon River.  It looked harmless enough – though Sarah was not so foolish as to believe _that_ – and was a strange midnight blue colour, tinged a deep purple.  

            _I probably shouldn't be saying this, but whatever you do, don't go in the water._

            _Allow me to give you some sporting advice.  Do not go in the river._

            "And why the hell not?"  Sarah asked aloud, glaring at the waters.  Was the warning genuine or a trick?  Sarah couldn't tell, but decided there was no harm in looking for the crystal around the banks.

            The minutes ticked by endlessly as she walked along the sand, pushing away bushes, rocks and flowers hoping for some little glint of light.  Of course, nothing could ever be that simple.

            "This is ridiculous!"  Sarah declared, throwing herself down on the bank.  "How in the world am I supposed to find a crystal in all this?  I – there's no way – he must have known..."  Sarah trailed off, a sudden rainbow glare on the opposite bank catching her eye.  "That must be it!"  She cried excitedly.  "That has to be the crystal!"  Her common sense quickly caught up with her pride, however, and asked her how exactly she planned to _get_ to the crystal.  

            With no bridge in sight, Sarah decided that there only was one way to get across the river.  She would have to do what she had been expressly told not to.  "It was just a trick to scare me."  Sarah reassured herself, as she slipped off her shoes and pulled up her skirts.  "It's just water."

            Nevertheless her first steps in were tentative.  Barely toeing her way into the water she paused, waiting for piranhas to attack or quicksand to suck her up or something equally disastrous to happen.  But no, the pleasantly cool water only washed around her ankles, inviting her in deeper.  

            Sarah waded in, quickly giving up the pretext of keeping her clothes dry and let her skirts drop in the water.   The thin cotton material sucked in water like a sponge, weighing Sarah down as she walked across the bottom, in waist-deep water.  The current was slow and lazy, and Sarah was making her way rather easily across, although the water kept getting deeper and deeper.  She was in past her shoulders and not even half was across when the river bottom suddenly fell away from her feet.

            Sarah gasped and plunged under, reaching out for the bottom yet never touching it.  Resurfacing, Sarah spat out the river water that had gotten in her mouth when she went under – it tasted like bitter black ink.

            The water had been getting increasingly colder as she swam across, and now that she was near the middle it was like ice.  _Once I get halfway it'll warm up again._  Sarah consoled herself, as she coughed a little.  The water had left a slimy feel in her mouth, which she could not dispel.  And worse, the current seemed to pick up, and waves washed over her, forcing her to swallow more freezing water.  

            It turned her insides to ice, then a warm fire blazed through her instead.  She began to feel dizzy, and the weight from her dress was slowing her down quite a bit.  Panting, Sarah forced her frozen fingers to undo the ties on her dress, and she slipped out of it, left only in a slip-like underdress, grateful for the loss of the weight.  

            Fiercely Sarah kicked her way to the next bank, collapsing on the sand on all fours as a wave of nausea washed over her.  She spluttered up more river water, but it did not ease her sudden light-headedness.  Sarah attempted to stand, but fell back to her hands and knees as it made her head spin.  Catching a flash of light Sarah remembered the whole point of her little dip in the Poseidon River, and crawled over to the shiny crystal...

            Picking it up in her hands, Sarah choked back a sob.  The reflective glass was not a crystal after all, but only a shard of a broken bottle.  Hurling it far away, Sarah broke into another coughing fit.  She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and thought that perhaps Jareth's warning had been real after all.  Wiping her mouth with her hand, Sarah gasped at what she saw.  Crimson blood covered her palm.  Oh dear Gods, she was coughing blood.

            "Hoggle!"  Sarah called out, her voice cracking.  "Hoggle, I need you."  No answer came, though she did not expect one.  He had said he couldn't help her; there was no way for him to know the trouble she was in now.  Another wave of pain came, sharp and cutting, and Sarah retched again, splattering the sand scarlet.  There was nothing left for it.

            "Jareth!"  She called in a shaky voice.  She could feel him appear behind her, though she could not see him with her back turned.  

            "A very pretty picture."  Jareth commented dryly, seeing only Sarah drenched and sitting on the sand, in her undergarments no less.  "They all told you, beware of the waters.  Do you always believe your eyes above all else?"  In reply Sarah launched into another coughing fit, and Jareth noticed she was shaking.  She slowly turned to look at him, her hand covering her mouth as she coughed.  When Sarah lowered it, she heard Jareth's sharp intake of breath as he saw the trails of blood down her chin, smeared across her hands.

            "Dear Gods."  He gasped softly, and covered the distance between them in moments.  Instantly he drew her up in his arms, and transported them to the castle.

            "Put me down."  Sarah demanded, struggling albeit weakly against him.  "What the hell is in that water?"  Jareth ignored her query, laying her for a second time upon his bed.

            "How many times do you expect me to save your life?"  He snarled, conjuring a goblet and thrusting it towards her.  Sarah slid away until she was backed against the headboard, the fear of being alone with the villain, on a bed, in nothing but a soaking slip suddenly gripping her head-on.  "Get away from me."  She protested weakly.

            "The water is poisonous, fool."  Jareth spat.  "Now drink this."  He commanded, grabbing her roughly by the shoulder and forcing the goblet's liquid down her throat.  It was hot and thick, like butter, and Sarah could not help but swallow it.

            "Let me go!"  Sarah pulled away from him, grabbing onto the bedpost to pull herself off the bed and into a standing position.  "I have to get that crystal out of the river."

            "God damn you!"  Jareth shouted, grabbing her by the forearms as she stumbled.  "The crystal is not in the bloody river!"

            "But I saw –"

            "Yes, you did."  Jareth growled.  "What does that matter?  I thought you had learned, Sarah, your eyes deceive you."

            She'd been a fool.  Chasing after something she only assumed to be true.  He was right, had she learned no better than to believe that things would be so easy in this place?

            "You're hurting me."  Sarah said softly, raising her head to look Jareth in the eyes.  The vice-like grip he had on her arms slackened, though by all appearances still held her tightly.  Anger and frustration were shining in his eyes, contrasted by something else, something fiercer yet...yet.

            _Not everyone here is out to deceive you._  Had he been giving her a clue?  Could he have been, dare she think it, helping her?

            "You have it."  Sarah said suddenly, the feeling slowly seeping back into her toes.  "You never threw it anywhere, did you?"

            Jareth laughed, short and clipped.  "And it only took you ten hours to figure that?"  He asked condescendingly.  "You are improving."  The world, which had taken on quite a blurry appearance after Sarah's little swim, was slowly clearing, so that Sarah could see her surroundings well enough to know that she was back to where she had started.  She realized that Jareth no longer held her, and she involuntarily sunk back on his bed.  She forced the dazed look she knew played upon her features to take a hike.

            The Goblin King, with a twist of his wrist, drew the crystal from a coat pocket, and held it out for Sarah to see. 

~

            "Hey little fella, what's wrong?"  Karen cooed, flipping on the light and walking to her son's crib.  Toby immediately stopped crying as his mother scoped him up.  "That's my boy."  Karen smiled.  "Just needed some attention, hmm?"  Balancing her son on her hip, she walked down the stairs to where her husband was talking quietly on the phone.

            "You haven't heard from her?  Well thanks anyway, Laurie.  You will let us know if she contacts you, won't you?"  Apparently hearing the affirmative, Robert politely said good-bye and hung up the phone.

            "No one's heard?"  Karen inquired softly.

            "None of her friends no where she could be.  It just isn't like Sarah to do something like this, especially not to leave Toby here, all alone."

            "Let's not jump to conclusions, Rob.  Maybe she just ran out to get something and it's taking longer than she thought."

            "Out to get something?  At midnight?"  Robert asked in a hollow tone.  

~

            "That was my house?"  Sarah asked after Jareth pulled away the crystal, though she already knew it was.  "Then you've sent Toby home?  For real?"

            "You found the crystal."  Jareth said.  "Those were the rules."  Strangely, he did not seem disappointed.  "Would you rather I bring him back?"

            "No!"  Sarah answered quickly.  "I just, I didn't expect it to be that easy."

            "Easy?"  Jareth repeated.  Sarah definitely did not like that look in his eyes, devious, and almost happy, in a way, as though he knew something she did not.  Something she would not approve of if she did know.

            "There's a catch."  She stated flatly.

            "Do you really think so little of me?"  The King inquired innocently.  "You found the crystal, the babe is safe and sound.  What more do you wish?"  He asked, arching his eyebrows.  Sarah's heart skipped a beat as she caught his meaning.

            "What about me?"  

            "What about you?"  Jareth returned, smirking broadly.

            "You have to send me home!"  Sarah stood again, steadily this time.  Whatever potion he had given her had worked, her head felt clearer and her nausea was gone.

            "You were never part of the bargain."  He replied airily, turning to walk out the door.

            "Wait a minute!"  Sarah cried, jumping after him and catching him by the shoulder.  He turned and looked at her with mild amusement.  "You can't keep me here."  

            "I see no evidence to the contrary."  The fae shrugged.

            "I won!  You have to send me home."  Disbelief rang clear in Sarah's voice.

            "You lost."  Jareth said in a low, threatening tone, his eyes glinting dangerously.  "You forfeited the original game, and therefore forfeited your right to return home."

            "I did no such thing!"

            "Oh?  You threw yourself off a fifty-foot ledge.  I took it upon myself, the villain," he sneered, "to save your life.  Twice.  In finding the crystal you secured your brother's safety, not your own."  He turned away, walking out the door and fading as he did so.  "Enjoy your stay."  He laughed.  The door slammed shut after him, but Sarah only wrenched it back open.

            "Come back here!"  She shouted to the empty hallway.  "Send me home."  Her voice quavered, and Sarah realized she was blinking back tears.

~

            That had turned out nicely.  Well, not quite nicely, Jareth supposed, but there was no doubt the arrangement was a positive one.  He had not started this extravaganza with intentions of keeping Sarah – hah, keeping her, that made her sound like a pet, not a girl – but at any rate, she was here.  

            He had other things he should be concentrating on, other women that demanded attention, lest they think he had forgotten them.  And yet, he had turned his back on the girl for mere seconds, and she had tried to drink the entire Poseidon.  What more could he do?  He warned her of its dangers, offered to take that imp Arianna off her hands... Anything else would seem a declaration of love... Which was ridiculous.  But she was here.

            And where, exactly, was he planning to go from here?  He should have let her go, that fool-hearty, combative, slip of a girl.  He had not reason to make her stay.  

But she was here.

A/N#2:  I really want to thank all of you that reviewed, because it means so much to me.  I promise I'll do individual thanks next chapter, I just wanted to get my updates going as fast as possible.  Your feedback really makes my day!


	5. We Like Having Fun at Other People's Exp...

Disclaimer:  I own nothing Labyrinth.  I do own the large amount of original characters that pop up in this chapter, not that I really want them.  Today's chapter title is from "Fat Lip" by Sum41.

Never and Forever

Chapter Five

We Like Having Fun at Other People's Expenses

            Tears that Sarah could not stop trailed down her cheeks as she followed the path the goblin – no, make that the Goblin King – had shown her the last time she had fled the castle.  She wiped her tears away with her hand, and they mingled with the blood that had dried cracked and rusty brown across her palms.  What the hell was she supposed to do?

            Stepping out into the sunlight, Sarah stood helplessly in front of the castle.  She could not have stayed, had nowhere to go – her friends couldn't help her, or wouldn't, more like it.  And so she stood, barefoot and damp, hair disheveled, eyes red from crying, her arms and legs barely covered in a slip and splattered with blood.  Oh Gods, what was she supposed to do?

            Well crying would do her no good, that was certain.  She would just have to find another way home, that was all.  Just because the Goblin King wouldn't send her home, didn't mean she was stuck.  _Buck it up, old girl_, Sarah chided herself.  _This is just another part of the adventure, another part of the game._

            She had been walking without realizing it, and her feet seemed to be taking a predetermined path, as though they had given up on her mind doing anything sensible and decided they would have to fend for themselves.  She couldn't feel the rocks digging into her feet, though she knew they were.  She was only hazily aware that people, or goblins, or whatever the damned things were, they were staring, and snickering, and pointing and gossiping.  She was filled with a dazing numbness.   He would not let her go home.  She had not anticipated that.

            "Mummy, mummy, come see!"  Sarah registered the voice as familiar, though got no further than that.  "Mummy, look, Sarah's here to play!"

            "Arianna, what in the Underground are you – oh goodness."  Arianna's mother ran out to help Sarah, for her feet had found their way to Ari's home.  

~

            "I'd heard something as such had happened."  Ari's mother, Lomaria, said several hours later.  She and Sarah sat at Lomaria's kitchen table, sipping something Sarah attempted to equate with tea, though she knew the purplish liquid was nothing of the sort.  She had just spilled out her entire story, from practicing lines in a park and noticing a beautiful owl, to her leap from the Escher ledge, to Jareth's arch decision to keep her captive.  Lomaria had been an excellent audience, not quite motherly but similar to a well-liked aunt.  She did seem a bit too old to be Ari's mother.

            "No doubt he expected me to stay in the castle like a good little girl and wait for him to need a foot rub or something."  Sarah spat.  Her mind was still racing, thinking of everything she'd seen and done thus far in the Labyrinth, and where she could find a way out.

            "Look Sarah."  Lomaria said suddenly, laying her hands flat on the table.  "I know this all is very different for you, but you have to understand something about King Jareth – he's quite impossible to understand."  Sarah stared at her blankly for a moment.

            "That doesn't make any sense."

            "I know."  Lomaria sighed.  Sarah could tell she was preparing to dispel some wonderful bits of wisdom, or some other nonsense, but felt she owed it to Lomaria to listen patiently anyway.  Lomaria had been quite the hostess, giving Sarah a change of clothes and a chance to clean up, and the first meal Sarah had eaten since she had been dragged Underground.  Strangely, she hadn't been quite as ravishing as she should have been, not eating for a few days.  Sarah was about to consider this further when Lomaria spoke up again.

            "King Jareth's a bit of an enigma, 'tis true, but he wasn't always.  Or perhaps he was."  Lomaria paused to think about this.  "Death brings out the strangest things in people, Sarah."  

            Death.  Sarah remembered the "history lesson" she had gotten from the dwarves at the castle ruins.  

            "You mean his father?"  His father.  He.  Not Jareth.  The Goblin King.  That vile fae.  That horrible kidnapper.  Never Jareth.  She knew his name, but would not call him by it.  Why give him that humanity?

            "Yes, King Wintim.  You probably think of the Labyrinth strictly as a place where children are wished away to, somewhere for you to have your little adventure, but we all have lives independent of King Jareth's... other occupations."  Sarah felt sufficiently chastised.  It honestly hadn't occurred to her that everything in the Labyrinth would go on living even if she left – when she left.  

            "King Wintim was,"  Lomaria paused, searching for the right word.  "Wonderful.  There were no riots.  No hunger.  We – it was too good to last."  Lomaria sounded sad and distant, almost wistful.  "I'm only saying this so you can, you know, put things into perspective.  The thing is –"

            "Mom?"

            "Mom!"

            "Hey Mom?"

            "Who's the chick?"

            "What's for dinner?"

            "Mom?"

            Six separate voices rang out in rapid succession as six goblin boys came crashing through Lomaria's front door.  Sarah realized, for the first time, that these boys looked about the same as those she had come up against in the city, while Lomaria and Ari did not.  The six boys in question were scruffy, and not even three feet tall, their beady eyes darting over her questioningly.  Lomaria was much taller and willowy, with some sort of grace that Sarah would not have considered possible for something as demonic as a goblin.  And Ari was something else entirely – she had certain attributes Sarah could only describe as human.

            "Boys, come here."  Lomaria rapped in a precise, motherly tone.  The six of them fell in line in front of Sarah, as though this was an old routine.  "Boys, Sarah.  Sarah, this is Remembrance, Honor and Honesty, Patience, Gratitude, Sincerity and Forgiveness."

            Sarah glanced at the brothers, then at Lomaria.  Back to the goblin children, and she had to remind herself not to gawk.  Remembrance?  Sincerity?  And whatever else the rest of them had been – surely she was kidding.  Those weren't....those couldn't be...but apparently those really were the names of Lomaria's six sons.  

            Ari had been stirring in Sarah's lap when the goblin brothers came bursting in, and finally pulled herself into a sitting position.

            "You guys tricked me!"  She cried accusingly, after blinking sleepily a few times and eventually focusing on her entering brothers.

            "Did not!"

            "Did too!"

            "Did not!"

            "Did too!"  

            In all likeliness this lively banter would have continued for some time, were it not for the helpful intervention of what appeared to be the oldest goblin brother, Remembrance.

            "_Arianna, primadonna,_" he chanted,"_you're not a normal girl_."  Okay, maybe not so helpful.  "_the others run to have their fun, Ari's the _–"

            "Rem!"  Lomaria snapped, whirling on him.  "How many times have I told you to cut that out?"  Rem opened his mouth, most likely to tell his mother exactly how many times she _had_ told him, but Lomaria cut him off before he got the chance.  "Never mind.  Run into town, Rem, and pick up the order I placed at the market.  And take Sarah with you," she added as an afterthought, "and show her around town."

            Sarah had an urge to say, _awww, Mom_, but resisted.  Rem looked like he felt quite the same way, eyeing her with squinty eyes in a mixture of distaste and mild curiosity.  Lomaria, however, either did not notice or did not care, and continued ordering her other children about.

            "Ence and Ati, go and set the table, will you?  Nine places, dears, Sarah's staying for dinner.  Ceri, take your little brother and check the vegetable garden.  He can't do it himself.  And you two," Lomaria was now addressing Honor and Honesty, who as far as Sarah could tell, were twins.  "Clean up the guestroom.  Nicely."  She added, shooting them a warning glare.

            "Are you coming or what?"  Rem demanded, holding open the front door.  He walked through to the other side, and held the door open for Sarah until she got to threshold, and promptly let it slam in her face.

            "I wish away one annoying brother and find six more.  Someone around here has a really bad sense of humour."  Sarah grumbled to herself, wrenching the door back open and marching through, shooting daggers at Rem who only smiled back innocently.

~

            Several annoying stunts later, Sarah and Rem were having a seemingly peaceful conversation as he lead her to the marketplace Lomaria had mentioned.  They were walking quite a ways, but Sarah assumed that Lomaria must live on the outskirts of the Goblin City, since she lived so close to the Labyrinth itself.

            "Who wished you away?"  Rem asked abruptly.

            "No one wished me away."  Sarah scoffed, finding that she had a hard time keeping up with something that had such short legs.  "I'm not a baby."

            "Well then, did you wish yourself away?  'Cause those are the only ways for a _human_ like you to be here."

            "Trust me, there's more than just those two."  Rem stopped walking, and stared up at her.

            "Oh, I get it.  You're that girl."  And he started walking again.

            "What do you mean, _that girl_?"  

            "The two-in-one deal that tried to kill herself, messed up our town, and is making King Jareth act all whacko."

            "First of all, I did not try to kill myself.  Second of all, the City looks fine to me."  And it did.  Which struck Sarah as odd, but she was too busy defending herself to a little boy to dwell on it.  "That damned Goblin King of yours always acts that way, and what do you mean, two-in-one deal?"  She said very quickly and all in one breathe.  Rem acted as though he did not hear her last question.

            "How do you know what King Jareth usually acts like?  You only know how he acts around you."  Rem growled this last part, seeming more animal than, well, semi-civilized goblin.

            "Why does that make a difference?"  Sarah asked, ears pricking up at Rem's tone.

            "You really are stupid, aren't you?"  Rem shot back, jumping in a puddle and splashing mud all over the jeans and sweatshirt Lomaria had conjured for Sarah earlier that day.  Rem was walking faster now, taking sharp turns down narrow alleyways that made Sarah wonder where they were really going.

            "My lady!"  The sudden cry jerked Sarah out of her reverie, and she looked up to find Rem, talking to a butcher in a shope a little way down the street, and Sir Didymus, staring up at her as she almost tripped over him.

            "Didymus!"  Sarah exclaimed, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around the fox.  "I'm so happy to see you."

            "And I you, my lady."  Didymus returned, though somewhat uneasily.

            "You have to help me.  That rat of a King –"

            "I hast heard of thy plight, fair maiden.  I regret to say that I cannot help you."  Sarah reeled back on her heels.

            "Not you too."

            "I cannot help it.  I am a knight, lady, I have laid my life for my king."

            "You helped me get through the City!  You were fighting too, I saw you."

            "Thou dost not understand."  Didymus' eyes darted secretly from side to side.  "Circumstances change, my lady."

            "Circumstances!"  Sarah cried, throwing her hands up.  "The only thing that's changed is sides.  You've all changed sides!  What happened?  Your King of Slime won't send me home!"

            "You know,"  Said Rem, marching toward them and away from the shope he had just exited, clutching a package and a mischievous smile edging on his lips, "you really shouldn't say mean things about King Jareth."

            "And why is that?"  Sarah sighed.  She wished desperately that this day would end, so she could go to sleep and wake to find it all a nightmare.  Though that had already happened once so far and was less than successful.  Waking up in a dump was not an experience Sarah was longing to repeat.

            "Because," answered another voice, one that made Sarah's heart stop, though not from unfamiliarity, "he just might hear you."

            Sarah stood slowly, and turned to face him.  "Go the fuck away."  She said through gritted teeth.

            "What vulgar language."  He chided softly, advancing from his perch on a shope's window ledge.  "You cannot keep running away, Sarah."  Jareth sidestepped Rem and Didymus, coming up to Sarah and leaning against the wall, blocking her path.  Not that she would have gone anywhere.  Sarah's main focus was on standing her ground, and not murdering the son-of-a-bitch in the middle of the market square.

            "What are you talking about?"  Sarah asked in spite of herself, repeating the phrase for the millionth time that day.  He leaned in slightly closer, stormy eyes locked with hers. 

            "You are my guest."

            "Guests can leave."  Sarah shot back.

            "You cannot impose on Lomaria and her family.  She has enough mortals to deal with.  You will come back to the castle."  Jareth said, his breath flitting across her cheek, a warning tone combining with the mocking one to make Sarah shudder internally.

            "Like hell I will."

            "Sarah, you will do what I say or –"

            "Or what?"  Sarah spat, ignoring the horrified look on Didymus' face.  "There's nothing more you can do to me."

            "I would not say such things if I were you."  Jareth hissed, leaning imperceptibly closer so that his nose almost brushed hers.

            "You can't tell me what to say."  Sarah said in a low voice, as her heart tried to jump out her throat.  "I'm not a child."

            "You are very much a child, Sarah."  A glint of light in his eyes.  "I thought you weren't, but I was wrong."  He pulled back slightly, his words made Sarah's heart freeze but her mouth continued on it's own.

            "I'm almost sixteen!"  Oh, how she wished she could take back those impossibly childish words!

            "And I'm almost six hundred."  Jareth replied, his voice laced with disinterest.  "Numbers do not matter for a whiny, short-sighted, slip of a girl."  The insults kept coming, one after another, and Sarah could not understand why they burned so.  Combined with a second near-death experience in three days and the loss of, of everything...

            "Why do you care?"  Sarah snapped, screaming it.  That lit a fire in Jareth's eyes.

            "You called to me!  You put _yourself_ in _my _hands!"  A pause.  

            Oh no.

            She couldn't have said it.  She hadn't meant it, it couldn't have been that way...

            __

_            Someone save me, someone take me away from this awful place._

            Oh God.  She had said it.  What an idiot!  Before she even wished Toby away, she had as good as wished herself away.  She had asked, clutching her teddy bear like she really was a child, and asked for someone to take her away.  And what misfortune that the King of the Damned Goblins had been listening.  He _had_ taken her away, as she had asked, and Toby too...

_The two-in-one deal that tried to kill herself..._

Rem had said it.  And he'd been right.  And Jareth wouldn't let her go home.  And maybe he was right too.

            "Are you enjoying your fairy tale?"  His words cut through her, and Sarah closed her gaping mouth silently.  She stared at him, and he stared back, though her gaze was intense and confused, his but a droll amusement.  Those were not the only foolish words she had said that night that seemed so long ago.  

_But what no one knew was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl._

            Sarah backed away, then turned and fled back to Lomaria's house, and never looked back.

~

            Sarah sat on the porch, watching the sunset over the Labyrinth walls.  When had everything gotten so confusing?

            Rem peered at her from the window of the bedroom he shared with two of his other brothers.  He let the curtains fall to a close, then turned to face his five younger brothers, who were all gathered before him and facing his expectantly.  He had already described his beginning escapades, and they all laughed for a good stretch of time.  But now he was serious.

            "That human girl most hates King Jareth."  He said, then lowered his voice quickly so his mother wouldn't overhear.  "She's so much fun to play with, but this is even better.  I have a plan."


	6. Father Can You Hear Me, This Is Not How ...

A/N: I'm sure you're not interested in my personal life or anything, but recent developements in my own romances led the first versions of this plot to be something like, "and Sarah beat Jareth over the head with a shovel for being such a jerk, and went and joined a convent, damn it." Not very applicable to the plot, you see. Hopefully I have something acceptable for you now, and chapter seven is about halfway done. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Chapter title by Savatage, "Chance." Characters, settings, and other recognizable elements should be credited to Jim Henson, Labyrinth Enterprises and others.

Never and Forever

Chapter Six

Father Can You Hear Me, This is Not How it was Meant to Be

No life so short it can't turn around 

_You can't spend you're life living underground_

_Far from above, you don't hear a sound_

And I'm out here, waiting 

_I don't understand what you want me to be _

_It's the dark you're hating_

_It's not who I am but I know that it's all that you see_

_                        ~ Savatage "Not What You See"_

            Sarah didn't sleep much that night.  She had lain in the guestroom Lomaria had made up for her; staring out the window and watching the stars glow against the night sky.  And then she had watched the sunrise, casting puddles of orange light over the Goblin City.  She'd spent most of the night going over one memory after another, and calculating the days.  One day going through the Labyrinth, two spent unconscious in Jareth's bed.  One day going through the Labyrinth _again_, then more time in Jareth's bed... Other than coming across a very disturbing pattern, Sarah knew what day it was without a doubt.  Her sixteenth birthday.

~

            "Oh Robert?  Come on down.  It's another letter from Sarah!"  Karen called up the stairs, riffling through the stack of mail she had just picked up.  Robert ran down the stairs as carefully as he could, as he held Toby in his arms, who was soaking wet, wrapped in a towel and laughing brightly as he gripped a small ball.

            "Well don't just stand there," Robert laughed, shifting his son to his other arm.  "Open it."

            "_Dear Dad and Karen,_" Karen read quickly, "_I'm really liking it out here at Aunt Susan's.  She's been really sweet and totally accommodating.  She says hi, by the way.  I just wanted to thank you for being so understanding.  School is going much better out here, and Karen, you'll be thrilled to know I met this guy... Sorry Dad!  Anyways, Aunt Susan wants to show me around, so I'll this will have to be a short letter.  One of her neighbors has a stable, so I might learn to ride.  I miss you all very much, and don't let Toby forget who his big sister is!  I'll call once things settle down.  I love you, Sarah._"

            Karen and Robert exchanged relieved glances.  "Sending her out to your sister's was a great idea, Rob."  Karen said, smiling.  "She sounds like she'll be all right after all."

            "I hope so."  Robert said, bending down to scoop up the perfectly round, clear ball Toby had dropped.  "You know, I think we're raising a very spoiled child."  Robert joked to Karen.  "I can't even remember where half his toys come from."  He said, holding out the crystal as evidence.

~

            Sincerity woke up early, before the first crows of the rooster.  He scrambled over the sleeping forms of his brothers, all of the scattered throughout one room.  They had spent the whole night planning, and Ceri was sure he had his part down.  Or mostly sure.

            Rem had been so specific last night, he couldn't have forgotten.  Ceri pulled some socks off the floor, shaking the cobwebs off of them before slipping them on.  Something about his mother and a meeting... Oh yes, that was it!  He had to go talk to King Jareth and make sure he would come, and _then_ convince his mother to let that mortal girl go.  Then she would be out of his house and the Goblin King would stop acting so loopy.  

            Ceri smiled to himself as he crept out the back door, shutting it silently as he had learned so well, so his mother would never know he was gone.  He ran over the speech Rem had prepared for him the night before, then decided he didn't like it.  Oh well.  He would just wing it.  His mother's curse had worked, hadn't it?  He wasn't called Sincerity for nothing.

~

            Jareth pressed gloved fingertips against the bridge of his nose.  It had been a long day of seemingly petty goblin squabbles – no, they weren't petty.  They were important, he was sure, but he was having a terrible time concentrating with the mess he had made of things constantly taunting him from the back of his mind.  How unkingly he had acted, how rash.  He had certainly reached the end of his rope.

            "King Jareth?"

            Oh no, here was a lower place.

            Jareth raised his eyes, then lowered them again to find one of Lomaria's brats, Sincerity, standing before him, eyes wide and innocent.  Well, innocent this young goblin certainly was not, but something about those curious, soft eyes... Damn Lomaria and her imprecise magic.

            "Hello, Sincerity."  Jareth said, considering him from his throne.  The goblin approached earnestly, his twitching fingers displaying a small bout of nervousness.  "May I help you?"  Jareth couldn't help but smile at the little thing's awe, taking in the surroundings of the throne room.

            "Mother sent me."  Sincerity said, all toothy smile and wild hair.  "She said to tell you that she was fine taking care of that mortal girl –"

            "Sarah?"  Jareth asked patiently.

            _Of course Sarah._  Ceri thought to himself.  _How many other mortal girls are in my house?_

            "Yeah, her.  Mother said she was fine taking care of her until you, uh," Ceri took a deliberate pause, pretending to think things over and press his memory, "until you, uh, oh!  Until you two were ready to get together."

            "Is that what she said?"  Jareth asked, a little too quickly.

            "Uh-huh.  She said that Sarah just had to come around and little, and then Sarah said she would never come around to a kidnapper –"

_"You're nothing but a kidnapper!  No wonder the mortals can't stand you!"_

            "Quiet, Jareth!  I'm not a kidnapper; I'm their saviour.  And you will be too, can't you see that?"

            "What if I don't want to be you, father?  Had you even considered it?"

            "You are the crowned prince, Jareth.  You don't get to consider it."

"King Jareth?"  Jareth's eyes focused again on the here and now.  

"You're excused, Sincerity."  Jareth obliged, with a wave of his hand.  "Give your mother my regards."  Ceri smiled again, then backed out of the room as customary.  Once he was a safe distance from the door, he burst out laughing.  Another adult falls to Ceri.

Jareth folded back against his throne.  He had one day to right his wrongs.  One day before he had to go out and face another complication.  Why did he have to need her so?

~

Sarah was walking in circles around the Goblin City.  She felt restless, useless, and yet had no desire to do anything but wake up in her own home, and run down the stairs and throw her arms around her Dad, and Karen, and Toby.

Lomaria was busy conducting school with her eight children, though how she got those jumpy little creatures to settle down was beyond Sarah.  They were cute, and sweet, and Ari was almost achingly human – none of them compared to Toby, though.

Sarah sat down on the thick rim of a fountain in the centre of the city, then reconsidered and lay down against the smooth rock, watching the setting sun slip down behind the Labyrinth's walls.  That was what she had done, all day.  Watch the sun, watch the people of the Goblin City, and she hadn't absorbed any of it.  Of all the ways she had imagined spending her sixteenth birthday, this was not one of them.

Birthdays had never felt much different then the day before them for Sarah, but today she felt inexplicably older, and undeniably trapped.  She was already a year older, and destined to spend any other years that passed her by in this same situation.  God, would she still be wandering around the city, years from now?  Could that horrible King hold a grudge for that long?

"Sarah."

Question answered.

"Will you be doing this every day for the rest of my life?"  Sarah asked without preamble, turning her head to look at him.  "Showing up and being cryptic and then leaving again?"

"Is that what you want?"  Jareth replied just as simply.

"I can't have what I want."  Sarah said finally, pulling her eyes away and staring back up at the colourful sky.

"I wouldn't be so sure."  Jareth answered so softly, Sarah wasn't sure she heard him right.  "Sarah, we must talk about Lomaria.  There are some things you should know, before it goes too far.  Come to the castle.  Celebrate your birthday."  If anyone else had said it, it would have been a request, a plea, even something resembling an apology.  Everything Jareth said was just a statement, though a statement clearly directed at Sarah.

"How did you know it was my birthday?"  Sarah asked, sitting up very suddenly.  She hadn't told anyone.  

Jareth acted as though he hadn't heard her, or if he did hear her, he didn't care.  He simply held out his hand, face composed and eyes framed with a slight inquiry.  Sarah glanced from his face to his hand, then decided that not only could she not go back to Lomaria's house just now, she could not be alone any longer.

The air whooshed around them the moment she took his hand, and the next thing Sarah knew she was standing inside the castle, in a room she had never seen before.

_What have I gotten myself into?_  Sarah wondered, not even realizing that she still held Jareth's hand.


	7. To See if You're Human After All

A/N:  This is un-beta-ed, because I thought I'd post it asap.  Anyways, you'll have to forgive any minor errors, and I'll fix them once I get the corrected version back from the incomprable Lauralye.

Disclaimer:  All things remembered belong to Jim Henson and Labyrinth Enterprises among others.  Title from Savatage (yes, them again) "Chance."

Never and Forever

Chapter Seven

To See If You're Human After All

_I swear on tomorrow if you take this chance_

_            Our lives on this moment_

_            The music the dance_

_            And here in this labyrinth of lost mysteries_

_            I close my eyes on this night_

_            And you're all that I see_

_                        ~ Savatage "Not What You See"_

Sarah looked around at her new surroundings.  A dining room, large and airy with an arched ceiling and dimly lit by torches on the walls, candles on the table, a table that was ridiculously small in this gigantic room.  Five hundred tables could have fit, where just the one stood, with two high back chairs covered with rich, crimson velvet cushions.  Jareth's velvet fingers were still entwined with hers, but Sarah was too tired and confused to care.  Where exactly had Mr. Chivalry come from, anyways?

The silence stretched between them as he led her to her chair, and pulled it out for her, only relinquishing her hand once she was seated.  Sarah waited, knowing that he would say something, something that would remind her that he was the villain, that the bit about him loving her was just something she had made up that night, that she was forever trapped in this nightmarish fairy tale.

"Happy birthday."  He said solemnly, slipping into his chair with a catlike grace.  Sarah stared at him blankly.

"What?"

"Sixteen is a very important age for mortals, is it not?"  Jareth acted as though this was part of his everyday routine.  Make some kingly decisions, kidnap some children, then act cordial with your captive.

"I think I missed the part of the story where you turn into a raving lunatic."  Jareth only looked amused.

"Am I not acting out your story to your liking, Sarah?  Am I not following the rules?"

"You never followed the rules."

"You never knew the rules."  Jareth said shortly.

"I thought they were pretty simple.  Solve the Labyrinth, thirteen hours, go home.  Where is that unclear?"  Sarah demanded.

"You and I were playing different games, Sarah.  You lost yours."

"And you?"  Jareth paused.  His lips looked as though they wanted to betray him, to say something that he did not want her to hear.

"This is not what I brought you here to talk about."  He said coldly.

"Well why don't you say whatever it was you wanted to say, and then we can get on with this little trip in hell."  Sarah said sharply.  

"Really, Sarah, hell?  Is there truly no place worse you could be?"

Well, of course there were worse places she could be.  Just because she couldn't think of any at the moment didn't mean they didn't exist.  She glared at him, his infuriatingly indifferent features, eyeing her as though she was some new curiosity, and not a girl he seemed to greatly enjoy tormenting until she was mad enough to spit nails.

"What did you want to tell me, Jareth?"  Sarah sighed.  It was getting harder and harder not to feel defeated, when she was trapped in this endless circle, a three-ring circus of pain.

"Eat something, Sarah.  You look as though you could use it."  Sarah raised her eyes to meet his, surprised.  His face was stoic, true, but something mirroring concern was in his voice.  Sarah couldn't help the fact that she was hungry, however, and decided that she could take whatever the Goblin King threw at her, poisoned or no.

They ate in silence, for a moment.  Jareth's hair looked like burnished gold in the candlelight, his scarlet robes so deep they were almost black.  White embellished shirt complimenting his pale skin, overrun with shadows, pouring across his cheeks.  Differing eyes focused on his meal, both as cold as ice – and now they looked up at her, and Sarah realized with a start that she had been staring.  Staring and thinking what a hauntingly beautiful picture he made.

Suddenly self-conscious Sarah looked away, reminded of the faded jeans and comfy sweatshirt she was wearing, not at all comparable to her royal surroundings.  Her hands went to her messy ponytail, untying the ribbon Ari had given her to smooth it out and pull her hair up better, get all those annoying fly-aways tucked in.  To look less like a careless slob, though for whom Sarah dared not contemplate.

"Your hair looks better down."  The Goblin King said lightly, with the air of someone commenting that the meat was a little tough, and could she pass the salt?  Sarah glanced at him briefly, but his face revealed nothing.  She combed her fingers through her hair, then let it fall around her shoulders and stuck the ribbon in her pocket.

_Don't say it._  Sarah told herself forcefully.  _Don't say it, silence is better then the bitter irony contest you'll be starting if you say it._

"Why are you acting like this?"

_Damn._

"Acting like what?"  Jareth inquired, pushing back his chair and crossing the small circumference of the table to pull back hers.  Sarah racked her mind for a better adjective, something sophisticated, something that wasn't so blatantly curious as to what was going on in his head.

"Nice."

"Am I being nice, then?"  Jareth asked, smiling his all-encompassing smirk.  "I hadn't noticed."

"That's not what I meant."  Sarah said quickly, refusing his hand and standing up from the table.

"Things are not as black and white as you would have them be, Sarah.  If I were truly as hateful as you imagine, I would have let you die the many times you gave me the opportunity."  He turned from her and started walking across the huge room, and out the door.  Sarah ran after him, and caught up with him a few steps out into the hallway.

Truths were pouring out of Jareth's mouth far faster than he intended.  In fact, he didn't intend to speak of them at all; some of them he hadn't even realized were true before speaking them aloud.  Sarah was quiet, for a moment, walking by his side as he thought quickly, silently.  So what if he loved the girl?  Love was an emotion, just as easily frozen out as any other.  Love was misery and pain, and he would not let himself be trapped so easily, and he certainly would not put his heart out on the line for that mortal child.  Girl.  Woman, perhaps.  He would not.  Not again.

"Why did you let me fall?"  The question was a surprise, to both of them.

"I did not _let_ you.  It was unexpected."  Jareth answered shortly, turning down a different corridor and through a large archway, out into the palace gardens.

"Well what did you expect me to do?  Throw myself down on the ground, sobbing and begging for my brother's life?"  Her sarcasm surprised him.

"I expected you to bargain.  Request a trade."

"A trade?  What.... oh."  A trade.  He had expected her to take Toby's place from the very beginning.  More and more her foolish wish was seeming like some sort of orchestrated plan to get her here, if not one way than another.

Night had fallen.   Silver flowers lined the path they were walking, full and shining brightly in the moonlight.  A slight breeze blew and teased both their hair, tossing Sarah's chestnut locks back from her face and twirling Jareth's round his shoulders.  Windows were lit up throughout the Goblin City, as its thousands of citizens finished their dinners and prepared for bed.  The path turned, opening to an orchard of weeping willows and ethereal trees with a silver glow blocking out the light.  Their silence burned Sarah's ears till she could no longer bare it.

"What did you want to talk to me about in the first place?"

"You're having an effect on Arianna."  Jareth replied.

"An effect?  What are you talking about?"  Sarah laid her hand lightly on his arm to make him stop walking, then pulled it back sharply once she realized what she'd done.  He stopped anyway, and turned to look at her.

"Lomaria tells me you've spent a great deal of time with the girl."

"So?"  Sarah demanded, inwardly shocked and seething that Lomaria and Jareth had talked about her without her knowing.

"The stories you tell her, the games you teach her.  She has begun to remember."

"Remember what?"  Jareth's eyes lit up with dismay, quickly followed by anger.

"Have you been walking around that house with your eyes closed?  Arianna's a human child, Sarah."  His voice was hard, and his eyes closed briefly in frustration.

"She was wished away?"

"Not exactly."  He turned away and started walking again, but Sarah started quickly after him.

"Not exactly?  What is that supposed to mean?  Who wished her away?  Did they loose at the Labyrinth?"  Jareth paused, glancing at her before walking faster down the path.

"Not exactly."  

"Are you trying to annoy me?"  Sarah demanded, matching him stride for stride.  "Did you even give them a chance at the Labyrinth?  Or did you just take her?"

"Her mother did not want her.  She did not want her daughter, would have left her for dead if she had not, by chance, stumbled over the right words."  Sarah stopped dead in her tracks.

"You're serious, aren't you?"  Jareth didn't stop till he was several feet in front of her, hair silver and tousled by the wind, mouth twisted downwards in an actual look of sadness.

"More's the pity."  He said softly.  Regretfulness, and sadness, and actual human emotions crossed his face in blaze of sincerity.

"How old was she?"  Sarah asked, crossing the distance between them so earnestly that she had come much closer than she had intended, inches between them.

"Four human years."

"Four?  And she doesn't remember it?"

"I cast a spell on her.  She is happy not knowing, but you influence her whether you intend to or not, and she will remember.  And she will not thank you for it."

"Doesn't she deserve to know?"  Sarah asked quietly, tilting up her face to see him better in the dark.

"That is Lomaria's decision, not yours."  Jareth replied firmly, raising a gentle hand to brush a stray hair behind Sarah's ear.  She had intended to say something else, but conscious thought fled from her mind as she saw his hand from the corner of her eye, slipping across her cheek in a slow, fluid motion.

"I, I can't go back there, not tonight."  Sarah said, caught in his gaze as he stared down at her, hand still resting by her cheek, surrounded by silver trees and rising moonlight.

"Stay here tonight."  He said softly, bending down.  Not a command.  Not a suggestion.  A simple request, passing the Goblin King's lips.  His hand curled back, sliding to her hair and guiding her eyes upward.

"All right."  The words had barely escaped her before his lips came down on hers.  Soft and gentle, pursuing, as his other hand slipped around her waist, pulling her ever so closer to him.  Her hands trailed up across his arms, his shoulder blades to rest around his neck, brushing against silky strands of his hair.  The coolest heat ran through Sarah's veins, made her shake against him.  Her first kiss.

He pulled away just a little, bringing his hands up to move hers from his neck.  "Let me take you to your room."  He said softly, their fingers tangling together through the velvet shield with which he covered his, and he pulled her gently down the orchard path, looking at her every now and then to make sure she was real.

~

Sarah awoke in an unfamiliar bed.  She was getting used to the unfamiliarity, accustomed to the unpredictability her life had taken.  It took her but a moment to remember where she was this morning, why she was tangled in silken sheets of a creamy white that were neither her own nor of the guestroom in Lomaria's home.

Sarah rolled over, closing her eyes against the sunlight and clutching at the pillow beside her.  So she had given in.  Accepted the guest room in Jareth's castle – at least she could reassure herself with the fact that she hadn't spent the night in _his_ room.  One first that night had been enough for her, not that Jareth would have even allowed it.

Jareth.  Not the Goblin King.  Not that vile, treacherous fae she had read about in her storybook.  Perhaps he was human, after all.

The floor was deathly cold against her bare feet, but Sarah didn't mind.  Her eyes had alighted upon a certain piece of fabric draped across the silver bench at the vanity table across the room.

A soft, silky lilac gown, embellished with silver thread and white lace across a puckered neckline, with sweeping sleeves and a trailing skirt.  A dress, Sarah thought as she pulled it on, for a princess.  Or perhaps a queen.

~

"Where's Jareth?"  Sarah asked, stopping a small maid in the hall that looked like a mix of fae and goblin.

"You mean the Goblin King, miss?"  The maid asked, over the pile of midnight blue sheets she was carrying.

"Are there many more Jareth's living in this castle?"  Sarah asked, smiling.  "Do you know where I can find him?"

"He's left, miss."  

"Left?"  Sarah repeated, brow knitted with surprise.  

"Yes, miss.  He left for the Elfin kingdom this morning.  He goes away on business all the time, you know.  He'll be back by tomorrow night, I'm sure."  The maid reassured her, seeing the aghast look on Sarah's features.

"Thank you."  Sarah murmured softly, as the maid gave her one final look before continuing on her way.  

"He left.  Left."  

Wait a sec.  Am I seriously thanking people here?  Getting off (or rather, on) my lazy butt and thanking people for being the highlight of my day?  I love it when you review, guys, seriously.  I especially appreciate all of you who are still here, supporting me when I'm being a good-for-nothing, no-post-in-a-month writer.  Here's to my wonderful readers:

**Chapter One**:

Bella, Celestia, dawn, LabyLoverLaurie, Lady Mags, Silver Space, Claire Starling, Leigh,  Firebrand, Emerald The Lady Destiny, Kathryn, Lyra Matsuoka, The Hooded Crow, BJ,  cosmic, Ella, Ki-Chan, Kitty Hikaru, Cyanne, Dark Star Queen, Anti-Gravity-Chica

**Chapter Two:  **

Bella, JupLuna, Emerald The Lady Destiny, Jareth&Sarah4ever, The Hodded Crow, Silver Space, Zaria, PeachDreamer, kate, LiNa, Lyra Matsuoka, Xelena, Akira Silveracious Majere, Dark Star Queen, Corona, Catt, guenevereandromeda, dawn, Richard, Tempus Vernum,  Anti-Gravity-Chica

**Chapter Three**:

Emerald The Lady Destiny, Silver Space, Erin-21

**Chapter Four:**

Tempus Vernum, Lyra Matsuoka, Nirvana,  Nika-Chan, Silver Space, dawn, Richard, Ankle, Katy, Elona, Shadowcat, SILVER FOXX 411,  **A Fan** , Farseeker,  Nirvana (who somehow outwitted the system and reviewed the same chapter twice!)

**Chapter Five:**

Ezra's Angel, Baloo, Silver Space, Midnight Lady, dawn, Catt, queenofworld, Kei, Kappy

**Chapter Six:**

Baloo (I didn't wait too long, did I?), Anti-Gravity-Chica, Lyra Matsuoka, Anne-Marie, Nika-Chan, queenofworld, dawn, Silver Space, Iden's Garden, Midnight Lady, Zephyrel, Ezra's Angel

And the Most Dedicated Reader Award goes to... Silver Space, who's reviewed every chapter thus far!  Round of applause, please!Ha


	8. We Kissed as Though Nothing Would Fall

A/N:  I have discovered a most bizarre phenomenon.  I have two copies of "Labyrinth."  One of them is taped off the Disney channel, from like four years ago.  The other is, I guess, an 'official' copy, store-bought and everything.  That's not the phenomenon.  

At the end of the movie, the final confrontation scene, when Sarah asks Jareth what he's done that's so generous, one of the things he says is, "I have reordered time for you."  Still not phenomenal, I know, but hang with me.  

In my store-bought version, the camera is focused on Jareth, and you can see him kind of raise his arm, but nothing else.  Okay, so my recorded-off-the-Disney-Channel one shows Jareth pointing to this 13-hour clock, and it's hands are going berserk. 

So now I'm thinking, what the heck?  Why is the official version missing this?  Which version is right?  So I'm wondering:  which version do you all have, or remember?  If you have the movie with the cover divided into these different framey things, then you probably don't have the strange clock version.  Can anyone solve this mystery?

Disclaimer:  Today's chapter title comes from David Bowie's (very fitting, no?) "Heroes"  Labyrinth's really just not mine.

Never and Forever

Chapter Eight

We Kissed as though Nothing Would Fall

            "I'm Jareth, King of the Incredible Jerk-Offs.  Oh yes, I've saved your life twice because that's just the sort of white knight in shining armor I am.  Oh no, no need to thank me.  My reward comes from working up a load of sexual tension, then prancing away like a magnificent prick."

            Sarah was grumbling.  Pacing up and down the garden walk that she and Jareth had walked the night before, though it looked entirely different in the daylight.  Golden and warm to match the sun, bright green leaves catching the light and keeping some of it for their own, letting some of it filter down pure and white against the ground.

            "I don't even know how it happened.  Sure, it was just one kiss, but it was my first kiss.  Shouldn't there be some meaning behind that?  I don't know if I even like him.  It was just, I was standing closer, then he was standing closer –"

            "Then you tripped and he caught you with his lips?"

            "Lomaria!"  Sarah cried, whirling around to find the motherly figure a few feet behind her.  "How long have you been following me?"  A slight blush rose to Sarah's cheeks as she remembered the diatribe she'd been on for, oh dear, it was getting to be nearly an hour now. 

            "Long enough."  Lomaria said with a smile.  "I did get to wondering when you never came back last night."  Sarah gasped, slapping her forehead lightly, cringing.

            "I'm so sorry, I –"

            "It's all right, Sarah."  Lomaria reassured her.  "Ceri told me what happened last night."

            "Ceri told you – what?"  Sarah said, trying to remember when she had last seen the particular goblin brother.

            "It's not important, dear.  But I can tell that King Jareth left rather abruptly, eh?"  Lomaria said with a hard-pressed smile.

            "Yes.  Apparently he went traipsing off to play with the elves – some goblin maid told me he'd be back tomorrow night – and I'll kill him!"

            "He's mostly immortal, you know."  Lomaria said with a good-natured wink.

            "I just," Sarah started, slumping down on a garden bench, "I don't know what to think about him.  He's the villain for thirteen straight hours and then he gets mad at me when I expect him to continue acting that way –"

            "The only person who thinks King Jareth is a villain," Lomaria interrupted, "is you.  And possibly himself.  Sarah, you know very little about him."

            "Well no one's very willing to share, either!  You all seem quite content delivering quaint little sayings and cryptic warnings, but that doesn't help me at all!"  Sarah cried, exasperated.

            "Then listen to me now."  Lomaria said firmly, moving to stand in front of Sarah's line of vision.  "Don't have this out with me.  Have this out with King Jareth.  He's the one you want answers from."

            "Too bad he's oh-so conveniently disappeared."  Sarah muttered under her breath.

~

            "We have already discussed the terms of the agreement, Highness Jareth.  It is either all, or nothing."

            "I know it, Lord Charmont."  Jareth replied softly, his eyes turned away from the King of the Elves who sat before him, and seemingly staring into the blank space behind him.  It was not the tapestries that Jareth was seeing, however.  He was seeing Sarah, her face enlightened by the moonlight and tipped up to his.  Oh, how he had made a mess of things.  Perhaps his father had been right all along.

            "It comes to this."  Jareth said finally, and after hours of discussion, King Charmont of the Elves, looking worse for the wear and exceptionally ready to step down from his position, held his breath as the King of the Goblins made his decision.  "Your offer is generous, and fair.  And though I have been reluctant, understand what I do is in the interest of my people.  Of our people."  A weighted pause hung between them as King Charmont met Jareth's eyes, looking bright and hopeful.  "I accept your terms."

            An audible sigh of relief ran through the room, and Jareth picked up an elaborate white quill, and signed his name without hesitation to a sheet of heavy parchment.  King Charmont added his name just below Jareth's, completing the first treaty between the two kingdoms – ever.

            Jareth rose to shake the old elf's hand, and pushed the thought that he had just signed away his life to the back of his mind.  The two leaders settled back in their high back chairs as seven witnesses added their signatures to the document, a formality at best.

            "Now," Jareth began firmly, "we will discuss my mother."

~

            "Lomaria said I might find you here."  Hoggle looked up in surprise to see Sarah standing in the doorway of the garden shed, inconspicuously hidden in the back woods of the castle.  "Hoggle, please.  Can I talk to you?"  Hoggle had expected a lot of things from Sarah, the next time he saw her.  After their fight the last time they had spoken – he had refused to help her solve the Labyrinth for a second time to find King Jareth's hidden crystal – he had thought she would be permanently enraged with him.  That she would yell the next time she saw him, or ignore him.  Not seek him out to ask for a word as calmly as someone asking the time.

            "Sure, Sarah."  Hoggle replied, looking to Sarah somewhat stunned, and tossing his spade onto a shelf before following her out into the daylight.

            "Why did you help me through the Labyrinth the first time?"  Sarah asked without preamble, always so blunt with her words.  Hoggle stared at her, surprised for a moment.

            "I, uh… we's friends, Sarah.  That's what friends do, right?"  Sarah studied him, the sunlight filtering through the ancient, overbearing trees that surrounded the gardening shed and other small servants' buildings.

            "Then why wouldn't you help me the second time?"  Sarah was clearly undeterred, and stared at Hoggle with a Jareth-like intensity, though her gaze was soft, and child-like.  Hoggle met her eyes, and sighed.

            "We knew yeh were coming.  Long afore yeh came."  Sarah remembered the way he had seemed not the least surprised when she first met him, stumbling outside the gates of the Labyrinth and fresh with a sense of adventure.  Somehow, however, she thought that perhaps this was not what Hoggle meant.  "Sometimes yeh need a shove in the right direction to meet yer own fate."  Hoggle said softly, earnestly, as though he wanted Sarah to take those words to her heart and understand them forever.  The problem with that, of course, was that Sarah didn't understand, not at all.

~

            Sarah stared out the window, feeling defeated.  They had sworn he would be back by now.  She'd spent yesterday searching for answers, even though the one she really wanted to ask had vanished to some mysterious elf kingdom, which no one in this damned city was very open about in the first place.  Now she had answers, or at least, had parts of answers, but they all blurred together to make some sort of incomplete nonsense.  She couldn't help but feel that if she could just see him, things would fall in place. 

            The downside of that, of course, was that it was now nearly midnight, and Sarah eyes were trained on the road just outside the castle, waiting for him.  They'd expected him by dusk.  Sarah hadn't said a word, told herself she didn't care if he ever came back, though she had spent the previous night in his guest room.  She didn't care if he died – if he even could, that is – but she couldn't stop herself from waiting.  Waiting to see him, wondering what was taking him so long, six hours too long.  She'd heard from some passing servants earlier that day that he would arrive horseback, following some code of tradition or another – Sarah didn't much care.  

            He had vanished without warning.  Made her blood boil, mocked her, hurt her, and yet she waited at the window.  The first clap of thunder made her her jump, the night sky darkened, hauntingly.  The first raindrops fell softly, then harder, harsher till it poured.

            Sarah stood on her tiptoes, trying to peer through the densely falling rain.  The drops were sterling silver, like little drips of burnished metal falling through the sky.  She squinted, but could not see through the silver haze.  There was nothing else for it, she decided.  She'd have to go outside.  She would not wait for him, not like some stupid, lovelorn, diary writing, fairy princess.  The rain was just too strange, and she wanted to see it up close, that was all.

            At first she lingered by the castle gates, watching the sterling droplets smack against her palm, soft and fine as talcum, then splay across her skin to go rolling to the ground.  It must be nearly one, or perhaps thirteen o'clock.  Did that make it the next day?  Was, perhaps, the weather slowing him down?  Why did she care, anyway?  She didn't care, she just wanted answers.  Right.  

            "Is this denial?"  Sarah wondered aloud softly, slowly straying from the castle, following the main road to the beginning of the city.

            A soft rumble caught her attention, the ground trembling ever so slightly beneath her feet.  Thunder crashed threateningly, and Sarah's eyes shot up to the sky.  Tiny sparks of golden lightening crackled through the air, electricity pulsing around her as the storm gathered speed.    The golden sparks seemed close enough to touch, and Sarah reached one small hand up to the dangerous sky, and then the world was suddenly illuminated by a brilliant flash of pure white lightening.

            It was more than a flash, it was as though the world had suddenly been captured in a terrifying white fire, and it was then that Sarah saw the huge black horse storming towards her, hooves thundering across the earth and making the ground tremble.

            Sarah's breath caught in her throat as Jareth brought his steed to a sudden stop beside her, the white light faded and the midnight sky returned, clouded with a swirl of smoky haze

            "What in the everlasting torments of hell are you doing out here?"  Jareth demanded, silver raindrops clinging to his ethereal hair and slipping off in clumps.

            "Don't yell at me."  Sarah cried, yelling herself just to be heard above the roaring claps of thunder.  "Where did you go?  Why did you leave?"  Jareth smiled slightly at that.

            "I did not know you cared."

            "I don't!"  But Sarah didn't even need to see the smirk on Jareth's face to know that he believed it even less than she did.  "I just – I thought that _maybe_ some part of you was human, but that's looking – what?"  Sarah broke off in mid-shout to stare at Jareth's extended hand.

            "Come here.  I will not argue with you in the middle of the Goblin City."

            "It's never stopped you before."

            "Sarah, just come here.  We shall ride back to the castle where you do not have to screech to be heard over the thunder."  Sarah's thoughts skimmed over the imbedded insult and went straight to the horse.

            "I'll walk, thanks."

            "It's pouring.  Have a little dignity, will you?"  But Sarah ignored him, turning quickly away and walking towards the castle, her bare feet slipping against the slick stone.  She wished she had thought things through enough to put on shoes.  Or to not come after him at all, for Christ's sake!

            His arm swooped around her before she could get far, pulling her swiftly up in front of him in one fluid motion.

            "Jareth, no!"  Sarah protested, shrinking away from the horse yet trying not to lean back into the body behind her.

            "Honestly, Sarah, you cannot be afraid of horses?"  Sarah didn't say anything, only eyed both horse and rider warily, her hands clenched near her chest.  Jareth, surprised, took her silence to be an affirmation and slipped his arm around her waist to keep her steady.  "I never would have pictured," he said, trying not to laugh, "a strong girl like you afraid of a beast of burden."

            "I'm not afraid."  Sarah said weakly.  She could feel his heartbeat through her back, thick and heavy.  "I just don't like them."

            The two of them rode through the city and into the castle, rough iron gates clashing behind them, louder than the fading storm.  Suddenly Jareth's arm was gone, his body slipped away as he slid elegantly off the horse, handing the reins to a goblin servant before offering Sarah a hand.

            "Would the lady care to join me on the ground?  Or does she fear that as well?"  Sarah ignored the smirk and stared down at the dirt floor, which suddenly seemed very far away.  Jareth, obviously greatly amused, placed his hands around her waist and lifted her down, and Sarah couldn't help but notice that chivalry was not a concept lost on this man.     

            "Don't laugh at me.  Just because I don't come from the medieval dimension doesn't make me inept."

            "No.  It just makes you very, very out of place."  Jareth replied, hands still around her waist, horse led away by a goblin who looked as though this was one conversation he would rather hear about the next morning in the kitchen.

            "Well that's your fault, now isn't it?"  Sarah said, stepping away from him, but not backing down.

            "I did what you asked and you cannot deny it."

            "They're just words, Jareth.  They don't mean anything."

            "You were unhappy where you were."

            "How do you know?"  Sarah demanded, though quietly, as though she wasn't sure she wanted the answer.

            "I saw you.  I saw you play your little games and try to see the world as though it were some place of possibilities – it isn't.  Above ground or under, nothing is as you would see it."

            "You were watching me?  For how long?  Why?"

            "I thought that was rather obvious."  Jareth said, staring down at her.

            "But those things you said – in the ballroom – you didn't mean it – "

"Do not presume to understand me, Sarah."  Jareth said, before she could say exactly what he did not want to hear.  "You know nothing of darkness, nothing of hate, nothing of pain.  The passion slips through your fingers and you do not begin to comprehend!"

            "I know I don't!"  Sarah cried, matching his stare and wishing there could be an easy answer with him.  "I don't understand you and you wear so many damned masks that I can never tell if I've seen you, or if there is a you or if I've been trapped in an illusion by a man who doesn't know himself!  And I don't care!  I don't care, and all I want is to kiss you again!"

            He needed no other invitation.  But there was nothing gentle, nothing placid, nothing achingly calm about this kiss.  His hands clenched around her forearms and pulled her to him, his lips slammed down on hers with a bruising impact, roughly pursuing again and again.  Sarah would have gasped, if she had time to breath, but was too consumed by painful passion pouring over her.  He scorched her lips and burned her arms and still her hands traced their way up his velvet-clad shoulders, her knees collapsing under her till he was the only thing supporting her.  The world fell away, her very mind died before her as he ruthlessly pursued her, stumbling back slightly though his lips still held hers captive.

            Sarah fell forward when he pulled away, his eyes ablaze with black fire, still clutching her arms painfully tight with his fierce leather grip.

            "You cannot accept it."  He hissed, his face still so very close to hers, his wild flaxen locks brushing against her chilled skin.  "You will never know the darkness, child."

            His last word stung, more than her swelled lips or the bruises on her arms as he let her go, abruptly turning on his heel.  Child or not, she would not let him have the last word.  Not when he had hurt her so.

            "What would you have said?"

            "What?"  Jareth snarled, his back still turned.

            "If I had beaten the Escher Room.  Just minutes to spare, as I said the right words.  What would you have said?  Stop?  Wait?  Would you offer me my dreams?"  Jareth turned, the fire frozen from his features by cold shock.  He stared, but Sarah would not stop.  "If I let you rule me, would you give me anything I wanted?"

            "Sarah."  It was a warning, and all that he could manage.

            "Fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.  Would you have offered?"

            "How?"  Jareth hissed, storming closer once more.  He did not say it, but they could both feel it in the air.  _How could you see into my soul like that?_

            "You have no power over me."  Sarah whispered.

            "Don't I?"  He demanded, grabbing her wrist before she could turn away.  His free hand reached up to cup her cheek, holding her gaze firm, though she would not have looked away.

            "Never."  Sarah spat, wrenching her hand free and backing quickly away.  She turned away from him and walked down the hall, determined not to run.  She tried to make her heart slow down, to stop her pulse from racing, to keep the icy blood out of her veins that was spreading like poison.  Poison from his kiss.  

            "How long will you believe your own lies?"  He merely whispered it, but it reached her, yards away, floated down the corridor to wrap around her, a mocking truth.  And Sarah ran.


	9. Don't Say You Love Me

A/N:  Yes, I am a horrible slacker.  Thank you.

Disclaimer:  Characters and setting belong to Jim Henson and Labyrinth Enterprises (if such a thing exists)  Chapter title belongs to M2M, from their song…. "Don't Say You Love Me."  (tricky, huh?)

Never and Forever

Chapter Nine

Don't Say You Love Me

            Sarah ran.  Down the corridors and through the hallways, her feet pounding against the harsh stone.  But she didn't leave the castle.  She could tell herself that it was too late at night to consider the city a save haven, that the rapidly subsiding storm was making it highly illogical to run out to freedom, but the truth behind it was that she couldn't take that freedom.  Not yet.  

            She easily found the way to her guest room, whipping open the door and slipping through to the other side, forcing herself not to slam it.  Instead she slid it shut slowly, leaning against it; her eyes closed to prevent the unwanted, childish tears from streaming down her face.

            "We must finish this."

            Sarah didn't have to look to know who it was.  There was no one else that would follow her, and no one else that she would argue with so.

            "I stormed off, Jareth.  It doesn't work if you come with me."  She wiped her eyes briefly with the back of her hand before turning to find him leaning against one of the bedposts.

            "I never would have believed you would run away, Sarah.  How immeasurably childish."

            "Funny thing about that, Jareth.  I am a child!  I'm sixteen, and I'm sorry if that's a problem for you.  I don't know what I'm doing, or what the hell you're doing, or –"

            "Did you just apologize?"  He interrupted, walking towards her while she leaned against the door for support.

            "No."  Sarah lied, though she wasn't even sure why she was saying the words that passed her lips.  He leaned in closer, placing one hand on either side of her shoulders to effectively pin her against the door.

            "You are not a child."  He said, after considering her for a moment with his sharp, contrasting eyes.  "You have said so yourself, so many times.  Now you insist that you are not grown?  Somewhere in-between, perhaps.  Stubborn, obnoxious, yet beautiful."  He continued, running one gloved hand across her cheek.

            "Stop."  Sarah demanded, turning her head away.  "You don't get to do this to me, not now.  Not until you –"

            "Until I what?  Prove myself to you?  Become your medieval knight in shining armor?  _It will never happen.  I am not a prince, Sarah, not a true love."_

            "I hate you."  She said, because she meant it.

            "And that is why you stay."  They locked eyes for a moment, and Sarah paused before she answered.  _I stay because you make me, had been on the tip of her tongue.  __I stay because I haven't found a way to escape yet, she thought.  He wore too many masks, she'd said, and for the life of her she didn't know if this was just another.  But a tiny part of her heard his statement as something different.  Something that her Goblin King would never ask her, but perhaps the King of the Goblin City that everyone tried to tell her about would have said it.  __Will you stay?  He almost asked, or never asked, but Sarah heard it even if it wasn't there._

            "I stay because you've trapped me against the door."  She said, a slight smile slipping across her lips.  _I stay because I don't know what to think of you, she almost said.  __And I can't leave until I find out._

                                                                        ~

            "And then?"

            "What do you mean, 'and then?' " Sarah mimicked Lomaria's anxious tone.  She considered telling her that then she and Jareth had mad, passionate sex on the castle floor, but Ari was perched solemnly atop Sarah's shoulders as the three of them walked through the bustling city, in the wake of seven rambunctious brothers.  Ari's formal mortality still weighed heavily on Sarah's mind, and though she determined that she couldn't help but be a human influence on her, she would at least try to be a decent influence, and therefore abbreviated her retelling of her argument with the Goblin King the night before.

            Lomaria was still staring.  _Oh, Sarah thought suddenly, __surely she doesn't  think that we actually…_

            "We kissed a little, then we were most unfortunately interrupted by a messenger from that elf kingdom that keeps making a nuisance of itself." Sarah said hastily, blushing.  Lomaria let out an audible sigh of relief.  "Honestly!"  Sarah cried, eyes wide with indignation.  "You didn't actually think that I would have – " She broke off abruptly, remembering that children were listening.  The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up at the thought of the mysterious elf kingdom that Jareth had run off to a the day before, but she could only put it on the list of things that she did not understand.

            "Candy store!"  This was the second time Ari had opened her mouth that day, the first to exclaim, "Hi, Sarah!" when Sarah came down the walk.  Sarah was sort of nervous that the goblin girly was coming down with something – assuming, that is, that goblin children _did come down with colds and things – and was just a little tired.  Lomaria tossed a sidelong look at Sarah, then gave out brisk orders like this was a tried and true routine._

            "In and out kids, all right?  One piece and that's it, no whining or I'm leaving you all here to pay for it yourselves."  The eight children made a chorus of _yes, mom, and flew into the store like a flock of very excited birds._

            Two clerks were sitting behind the countertop, chatting amicably.

            "Certainly, I think it's true."  The first one, a willowy elf, was saying to a squabby-looking goblin when the ten of them walked in.  "My Denksin works with the caterers, you know, and he told me just this morning that His Majesty was sending out orders for quite the royal shindig, if you know what I mean."

            "It's just what we've been hoping for.  And now that King Jareth's finally found love – "

            "Oh, stop being so corny," scoffed the elf, batting the goblin (which was at least two feet shorter and perched on a high stool) lightly on the arm.  "You'll scare our customers away."  The two finally turned their attention to Sarah, Lomaria, and the swarm of children.  "How may we help – Lady Sarah!"  The last part was a startled exclamation, and Sarah probably would have laughed or blushed, but her mind was caught on a certain phrase said carelessly moments ago, and she only stared blankly at the pair.  This time it was the goblin swatting the elf, and muttering something that sounded like _quiet, you mimblewimble._

            The children, having paid absolutely no mind to the adults' conversation, had finished circling the store like vultures, taking in everything that had been carefully stocked behind panes of glass, and came rushing up to the clerks in a noisy but ordered line – oldest to youngest, from Rem ordering a sludgesicle, which looked like it had been made from sewer water, to Ari, who daintily required an ice cream cone.  "Slug and slime, please."  She said in a shy whisper.  "Two scoops."

            Sarah's thoughts flipped around in disobedient circles, centering on the goblin's trifling words.  _Now that King Jareth's finally found love.  Oh, the goblin did mean her, right?  Sarah's mind conflicted.  She certainly did not want Jareth to be in love with another – and he wasn't, Sarah knew.  But she was also unsure if she wanted to be connected to him with such a powerful word.  Love?  She'd kissed him once or twice, to be sure, and thought him handsome.  She'd just been living her adventure, with no thought as to what would become of it._

She suddenly realized that her age could no longer be measured in years – it wasn't the fact that she was sixteen that made her young.  The fact that she'd never dated before, never faced the world without someone's protecting arm around her, never thought about that fairy tale word tying her to that frustrating and frightening man – it made her immeasurably childish, as Jareth had said.  Why would he love a child?

Her mind jumped back into her body with a harsh-feeling smack, and she found herself clutching Ari's sticky hand with Lomaria on her other arm, giving her a concerned look that reminded Sarah of her mother.  They were nearing Lomaria's home, the disastrous brothers already bursting through the door so they could hurry up and put down their mother's silly things from the apothecary and go search for the new tunnel that was supposedly born into the Labyrinth that morning.

"Am I supposed to love him?"  Sarah asked suddenly, shuffling over the threshold, as Ari dawdled beside her in a similar manner.  

"Child, 'supposed to' has nothing to do with it."  Lomaria was taking bottles and powders out of cloth bags and putting them onto shelves, in cupboards, or leaving a few of them to stand importantly on the counter.  "Don't pay any mind to those clerks.  They're gossipmongers, and hardly ever speak a word of fact.  They wouldn't have said it if they had known you were there."

"And that makes it untrue?"

"I'm not saying it's _untrue, I'm saying… Sarah, some rough times are ahead.  And not just for you and Jareth, but for all of us.  Drink some of this, will you?"  She pushed a cup into Sarah's hands, who eyed the floating twigs in it warily.  Lomaria poured Ari a cup as well, who was still holding Sarah's hand and apparently not listening to the conversation.  Sarah watched Lomaria drain her own cup quickly, twigs excepted, and Sarah did the same.  Lomaria took the cup back from her, swirling the soggy branches around in the cups and then spilling them out onto a saucer._

"It's just as I thought."  She said, sighing.  Sarah realized that she was reading tea leaves, although without the actual tea leaves.  "Sarah, I know you're still working out your emotions and feelings for King Jareth, but time is drawing short, and I don't want you getting trapped in the melodrama.  I'm afraid that –" Sarah felt Ari's warm, sticky hand drop from hers, and turned to see her glassy eyes fall shut before she fainted.  Sarah scrambled to catch her fall, twisting down to her knees to grab Ari's shoulders and cradling her head to keep her from hitting the hard, stone floor.  

Lomaria screamed.  The canister of purple powder she had been holding tumbled to the floor, spilling across the ground like smoke.  "Ari!  _Arianna!"  Lomaria swooped up her unconscious child in her arms, and her tears began to fall.  "Ari!  Wake up, Arianna, please!"_


	10. Asphyxiate

A/N: And somewhere along the way my posting-once-a-week habits died and were replaced by posting-once-a-month habits. I accept the flames that will burn me at the stake with expectant grace.

Disclaimer: This world isn't mine, I just distort it. 

Never and Forever

Chapter Ten

Asphyxiate 

_You, my dear, are a flaming red rose,_

_and I am the shears that snip._

_As yet you've avoided the black pools of sin –_

_But with me you should soon skinny-dip._

_Thou, dear heart, are my first wedded wife,_

_but I am Henry the Eighth._

_I'd pilot you 'cross the star-sprinkled heavens_

_And watch you asphyxiate._

_You are the dogwood that blooms in the summer,_

_but I am the frost that follows._

_Your passion burns like a flame in the evening,_

_and I am the darkness that swallows._

_You, my love, are the snow-colored dove,_

_which jerks in the sky with a start._

_And I, to my sorrow, the venomous arrow,_

_which has just now torn straight through your heart._

_~ Dan Stahl_

"Stay here." Sarah ordered, standing up from the mother cradling her unconscious daughter. Sarah had no idea what she intended to do, but she did know that they were accomplishing nothing, holding Ari and hoping that she would be all right. "Is there a doctor or someone around that can help?" Lomaria managed to tear her eyes away from Ari to stare vacantly at Sarah.

"She's been quiet all day." She whispered, not to Sarah, not Ari, not to anyone. "I should have known it. Quiet all day."

"Lomaria!" Sarah exclaimed desperately. "Lomaria, where can I go to get help?" But Lomaria acted as though she did not hear, she only turned her gaze back to her child and began to cry again. Ari's simple dress soaked up her mother's tears like a sponge, and Sarah thought she saw Ari flinch – but no. And time was wasting away. 

"I'll be right back." Sarah reassured an unresponsive Lomaria, then stumbled her way out the door. She had to find someone.

The seven goblin brothers peered in around the corner of the back door, watching Sarah retreat out the front door, their mother huddling Ari and oblivious to the world.

~

Sarah had bulldozed her way through the city at an unbelievable speed, her feet making dry, flat, cracking sounds against the dirt road as she ran. Her height was an advantage that made her stand out, made the curious civilians stop and stare and part like waters for her, for the Lady Sarah that they all talked about when she was safely out of earshot.

She thundered across the drawbridge and made it shake, holding her dusty skirts up around her knees with clenched fists.

"Jareth!" She screamed. "Jareth!" She burst through the threshold and now her feet thudded and echoed and God, why didn't he hear her? "_Jareth!"_

The air shimmered briefly and he appeared, his eyebrows narrowed and his eyes glistening with a swiftly abating annoyance.

"What is it?" Jareth demanded, grabbing her by the forearms to prevent her from knocking him over as she skidded to a stop.

"It's Ari. Something's wrong with Ari, you have to come!" Jareth whipped around to glare at the cluster of servants that were eagerly trying to look as though they were not the least bit interested.

"Make my excuses." Jareth ordered to the whole of them. "I shall return shortly." Sarah moved to pull him down the hallway and no doubt out of the castle, but Jareth kept holding her arms tightly and the two of them disappeared.

~

Coarse dirt slammed up under Sarah's feet. Jareth flew, more than walked, to Lomaria's side and pulled Ari from her grasp. Ari hung loose and broken in his arms, and Lomaria uttered no protest as Jareth swept her away from the kitchen and into a bedroom, arranging her carefully atop the covers. Sarah steered Lomaria into a hardback chair by the bed.

"What happened here?" Jareth demanded roughly, drawing his rapidly ungloved hands down Ari's bare arms and glancing at Sarah over his shoulder.

"I don't know." Sarah almost wailed it, but the harsh clamp that had come down around her throat didn't allow more than a whisper. "She was quiet this morning, Lomaria said, then just fainted dead away in the kitchen. Is she all right? What's wrong with her?"

"Run to the market and fetch some wormswood, heather's breath – can you remember it? Have someone take you to Griffin and bring him back here. Tortures above, but I am no healer." And then his eyes snapped to hers and she saw the apprehension building behind them. "Quickly."

Sarah's feet felt like cement blocks and the thudding rang in her ears. Jareth had turned from Ari and was crouching beside Lomaria instead. Sarah twisted her head back, trying to catch the reassuring words he told the frozen mother; she wanted his reassurance too, damn it. Her cement-block feet caught around something and yanked her back, and Sarah forced her way through the seven brothers that had gathered hesitantly at the door.

Back into the Goblin City she ran, stopping every person she could grab by the shoulder.

"I need Griffin. Where is he?"

"Please, I'm looking for Griffin. Can you help me?"

"Do you know Griffin? I have to find him."

"What is all the fuss about?" A sandy haired man stepped out from a cottage with a very low doorway, making him look even taller than he was. "Is someone looking for me?" Sarah ran to him, flicking sweaty strings of hair out of her face.

"Are you Griffin?" She demanded.

"Why, yes, I am." He smiled affably. "I'm afraid I'm rather busy at the moment, but if you'd like to –"

"Jareth needs you." Sarah said, cutting him off with the only phrase she knew would be effective.

"Where to?" Griffin asked quickly, and Sarah followed him as he bustled back into the cottage and grabbed a satchel.

"Lomaria's." Sarah said, hoping that this would suffice. "And he said something about wormwood. And heather's breath." Griffin glanced at her briefly, the corners of his mouth drawn.

"This is for Lomaria?"

"No, her daughter." Griffin paled visibly but kept his features soft, which only made Sarah more nervous.

"Well, we shall not stand here running our mouths then, shall we?" He said, lightly taking Sarah's hand and the world disappeared around her once more.

~

Jareth had somehow managed to bring Lomaria to terms, for they stood on either side of Ari when Sarah and Griffin appeared, chanting in a garbled tongue together. Griffin whipped a bundle of off-white stems from his satchel, and with a wave of his hand they were crushed to a fine powder. Sarah stepped back to the doorway as he sprinkled this around the bed in a circle, then assumed position at the headboard and joined the chanting.

A white light rose from the powder like smoke, encircling the four and making Sarah's view hazy. She could see Griffin toss something in the air, and then the smoke-light changed to a brilliant orange flash, and faded. Jareth stepped away then, Griffin pausing for but a moment to take Ari's pulse and then followed suit. Lomaria knelt at the side of the bed, and took her daughter's hand to wait.

"She will be all right." Griffin announced to the brothers, who were standing a few feet behind Sarah, and she could feel their collective sigh of relief brush across her back. They weren't really so bad, after all. Jareth and Griffin began to converse in lower tones, and Sarah edged closer to hear, though she looked in Ari's direction in hopes of looking less obvious.

"It is starting, then." Jareth said to Griffin with a hard edge to his voice.

"The aftershock?" Griffin asked. "But of course. She predicted it, you know full well."

"Do not presume to chide me, Griffin."

"It will be spreading, no doubt. Excuse me, you Highness, but I have a job to do. Perhaps you should begin your own." Griffin marched precisely away from the cottage, his cloak waving back in a straight line and his boots clicking in equal measure.

"Sarah?" She turned to look at Jareth, and he was ice. "Come with me." And it was no question.

She took his hand in silence and a moment later they appeared in his vacant throne room, where he could pace and listen to the calm clack of his heels against the stone. Sarah waited as long as she could, hoping he would say something. He didn't.

"I don't understand what just happened." She said finally.

"Ari seems to have been struck with some particularly strong burst of magic. It weakened her, certainly, but she is fine."

"Where did it come from?"

"The magic? There is an old battleground; it still resonates from the power it once saw. The tides of it ebb and flow on dramatic occasions and can strike down a passing individual."

"Why Ari?"

"She was most likely playing somewhere she should not have been – she was mortal, and more susceptible to such forces." He turned to her abruptly, and offered her his arm. "To be honest, there is nothing I would rather do than to put the mess out of my mind."

He knew she had listened to what Griffin had said. She could tell from the way he was eyeing her, a sharp mix of annoyance and curiosity and something else. She knew he was trying to sway her from the subject, and she took his arm and allowed herself to be swayed. If Ari was all right, then she could stand to put off the explanations if Jareth wanted it.

She'd never felt so mature.

~

He gave her a "formal" tour of the castle. Sarah had thought that she had been mostly everywhere, but she was startlingly wrong. From one grand room to another, past dozens of tapestries all full of fae, strangely enough. Wars and marriages and town life covered several walls, but no there were no goblins. Gargoyles leered from steep ceilings, leaves swirled round fanciful pillars and they all blurred together in Sarah's mind, but she didn't care. She enjoyed the feel of Jareth's arm beneath her hand, and the idea that she could provide some sort of solace from what seemed to upset him. She ignored the fact that he hadn't explained anything to her, not really, and wondered briefly if anyone ever knew what he was thinking – if she might ever be privileged enough to know.

They stopped in front of a heavy wood door, with the seal of Jareth's necklace emblazoned on the front.

"We must talk." Jareth said, before opening the door.

"I know." She had felt the tension in the air between them, caught the sidelong glances he had shot her, as though he was measuring her up for something. Sarah was beginning to suspect that this was a conversation she did not want to have.

They had all but just stepped in the room when a large-nosed goblin scrabbled in after them, bowing briefly in front of Jareth and attempting to catch his breath.

"Seven more case have been reported, Highness." He said, and took a large gasp of air before continuing. "They're all children. Changelings."

"Go." Sarah said, before Jareth could hesitate. Only, Jareth would never hesitate. Rather before Jareth could make a decision Sarah wouldn't like. "Go, because they need you. You really are a king."

"King of the Goblins." Jareth said softly, running a hand through Sarah's hair. "Will you wait?"

"Of course," Sarah answered, a bit surprised. Jareth transformed gracefully to owl form, swiftly swooping after the scurrying goblin. "Of course," Sarah repeated to the empty room. Where else would she go? What else was there to do, when time was meaningless now? She felt like a stranger wandering around in her own life. She loved the way tremors shook her spine whenever Jareth appeared, she did, and the lovely adventurous, medieval feel of the Underground. But was that all there was? Would she spend the rest of her life trading sexual innuendos with the Goblin King?

Sarah took to walking a slow circle around the sitting room, running her hand against the wood so dark it was almost black, and the carvings it bore. Aboveground she had had goals. A plan, of sorts. Finish high school. Finish college. Become a Hollywood starlet, an actress supreme. Marry the man of her dreams. Have a couple of darling children, win an Oscar or two, and retire to the elegant countryside. Not that her plan had been perfect, certainly no, because though Sarah wanted all those things, she still found it rather faulty – there was no thrill. Now, her life was all thrill and mystery, but no end place in sight. 

"This is fairly creepy." Sarah said, suddenly focusing on the décor of the room and hoping to relieve the eerie silence by the sound of her own voice. Her voice came out high and strangled, though, and bounced off the thick walls with a whisper of an echo.

Fae were carved into the walls. But not ones like in the rest of the castle. Twisted ones, tormented and sprawled on the ground. Retching and flailing and crying tiny black wood tears. It was a fae city, covering the walls. A city of fae, mutating to goblins. Oh God, what was this?

Sarah's stomach was trying to punch it's way out of her throat, and she ran out of the room through the nearest door, past a painting of a castle in flames. She slammed the door behind her and turned the key that was in the lock, as though she could lock out the images imprinted in her mind. She turned away from the door and her breath caught in her throat. Oh, she had been here before.

These were Jareth's chambers.

The past room must have been his anteroom, what a horrifying place. Sarah had been here days ago, in a fury over Jareth's refusal to send her home. She was surprised to find comfort here, comfort from the living nightmares in the other room – what in the world could have possessed him to decorate that room so? Even so, there was a distinct I-shouldn't-be-here feeling Sarah got from standing in his chambers, but she couldn't go back and wait in the sitting room. She crossed the room to leave by another door, but froze when the glitter caught her eye.

The glitter from a small box, set upon a desk and basking in the sunlight. Sarah's mouth came together in a tiny _oh,_ though no sound escaped her lips. She picked the box up with light fingers and took in the beautiful sight of thin strands of gold woven together into a tiny circle, inset with flakes of diamonds. The _oh_ turned to a grin, and she carefully set the box back where she found it. She kept grinning as she went back to the door she had come in through, kept grinning as she unlocked the door, and closed her eyes and let the image of the engagement ring paint itself against her eyelids and she felt her way through the grotesque sitting room with little problem.

~

Jareth strode down the hall, engrossed in a heated discussion with long-legged Griffin, who had no trouble keeping up with the King but every problem staying in line.

" – if you refuse to hear it from me, than who will you listen to? The truth is, Jareth, that if this continues, a simple treaty may not suffice – "

"Sarah." Jareth turned from Griffin as though he thought he was finished talking. Perhaps as far as Jareth was concerned, Sarah thought, he was done. "Why are you smiling?" He asked, looking at her with a bemused light in his eyes as she leaned against the door to the sitting room. Sarah was doing her best not to grin like lunatic, but failing miserably.

"No reason." She said lightly, stepping up so close to him she almost stood on his toes and sliding one hand on either cheek to pull him down for a kiss. When she pulled back a slight smile was tugging at the ends of Jareth's mouth – good, she had made him feel better.

"Ari's awake." He said softly, silencing Griffin's frustrated sighs with a glance. "Go and see her." That only made Sarah smile wider, if at all possible, and whatever had happened to all those fears and melancholy she'd had minutes ago? "Dinner?" Jareth asked, in a tone that made the question something more of an assumption. Griffin and the damned Erl King could go hang themselves for all he cared. Some things took precedence over politics. 

"But of course." Sarah said with a mock curtsey. Would he give her the ring tonight, perhaps?

~

Sarah slowed her run through the Goblin City to a walk. She should bring Lomaria and Ari flowers, or something. She had no idea what kind of Underground customs there were in regard to get-well cards, but on a couple of occasions she'd passed a poorer looking goblin family selling simple bouquets on her sojourns through the city. She could go and barter something away, help them out… But what?

She paused and glanced down at herself. A beautiful cinnamon coloured gown with an empress waistline and silver-flecked lace at the neckline – she'd spent enough time running around the city in her undergarments, and didn't want to do _that_ again – matching shoes, which she could spare but doubted would be much help to the tiny-footed family, or very valuable… Finally she pulled off the pearl clasp that held up her pile of dark waves – an elfish-type maid had put it in her hair this morning, no doubt courtesy of Jareth, but, well, he would understand. 

Sarah found the mother, father and youngest daughter in the center of the square, the girl splashing in the fountain that decorated the goblin city.

"Hello there," Sarah smiled to the child. "I was wondering if I could buy some of your pretty flowers." The girl turned to Sarah and put her fingers to her lips.

"Shhhh. Mommy and Daddy are having a deescussion."

Sarah's curiosity was piqued, but she was going to let it well enough alone. Until she heard her name.

She sat on the fountain's edge, almost leaning in the parents' direction in order to hear what they were saying.

"How is it our business what his Majesty chooses to do with the mortal Lady Sarah?" The husband had asked.  
"King Jareth's requested we supply the flowers for the ceremony." The wife replied with a sigh, folding her tiny arms against her chest.

"Saints below, he is a wondrous king." The husband breathed, and Sarah silently agreed.

"Yes, but wondrous or no, if his entanglement with the lady gets in the way with his marriage to the elf princess, why, we'll lose our job and our children could be the next afflicted." 

Sarah couldn't breathe.

Her heart exploded into tiny shards and her fingers wound round the fabric at her chest and she gasped a long silent gasp.

No. No, no, no, she'd heard them wrong, she had.

"He's the King, Alana," the husband was scolding, "he knows enough not to jeopardize the politically frail relationship with the Erl King. He's agreed to marry the elf's daughter, and he won't back down now."

No. No, no, no.__


	11. Over With

A/N:  I've forgone individual thank-you's for just a bit longer in order to get some chapters out speedily, but I do love all of you that review and I guarantee, next chapter will be the N&F reviewers hall of fame!  Review today and live in infamy! (I'm just shameless, aren't I?)

Disclaimer:  It's not my world, I just destort it.  Chapter title and lyrics by Michelle Branch, "Goodbye."

Never and Forever

Chapter Eleven

Over With

_I still get lost in your eyes_

_And it seems I can't live a day without you_

_Closing my eyes_

_And you'll chase my thoughts away_

_To a place where I am blinded by the light_

_But it's not right_

            Ever so slowly, Sarah uncurled the clenched fingers of her right hand with her left hand.  The fabric of her dress slouched where she had clutched it, wrinkled and loose now.  She counted her breaths as they went in and out, felt each pass of air swirl around her and try to strangle her.  No.  It wasn't true.  And she was being silly.

            Silly!  She ordered her heart to slow down, to stop wracking her like an earthquake.  It was simple.  She was sitting at a distance from a pair of gossiping goblins, and taking what she thought she heard as God-given truth.  It was ridiculous.  Very, very silly.

            Her knees creaked when she stood up, as though she'd been sitting there five years instead of five minutes and had rusted solid.  She stood there and looked around, catching several goblins giving her curious, sheepish stares.  Her pulse was ringing in her ears, wasn't that strange, a slow, dull thud that kicked the air out of her lungs with every beat.  Walk.  All she had to do was walk.  It wasn't true.  It obviously wasn't true.  Everything was fine.  Fine.  

            But she'd heard them say it twice.

~

            "The arrangements suit you then, your Highness?"

            "Charmont," Jareth said shortly, "you know that I have no interest in this sort of thing.  You can hold the ceremony Aboveground, for all I care, as long as you get it done."  If Charmont had not been the Erl King, he would have shifted uneasily in his chair.

            "You did sign the papers, your Highness…"

            "Of course I did."  Jareth spat.   "The deal is done.  May we move on?"

            "You had other matters you wished to discuss?"  King Charmont asked with mock surprise.

            "Do not jest about my mother's extradition.  I will collect her the day after the ceremony."

            "Do you mean to tell me, King Jareth, that you do not look forward to a morning of marital bliss?"  Charmont was mocking again, and it made Jareth clench his teeth.

            "She will find ways to enjoy her free time."

~

            Jareth found her in the gardens.  Sarah was sitting on a low stone bench, her knees drawn up to her chest and her dress flowing to the ground.  She held a beautiful soft purple flower in her hands, small and delicate.  And she was ripping the petals off.

            He half expected to hear her chanting _he loves me; he loves me not_, under her breath, as mortal girls were prone to do.  But no.  One petal torn, stared at, then tossed to the wind.  And another.  And another.  Should he tell her that that particular flower would continue to regenerate petals as long as she shredded them?

            "Are you hungry?"  He asked, laying a hand on her shoulder.  She jumped so hard at the touch that he pulled his hand back, and when she whirled around to look at him she looked like a frightened rabbit, caught in a hunter's snare.  "Are you all right?"  He demanded, kneeling down beside her so that his head was just above hers.  She reached up and traced his eyebrows with light fingers, barely stroked his cheekbones and his lips till his eyes fluttered closed.

            "I'm fine."  She said softly, and he leaned down closer until there lips met.  Her hands slid from his face to link around his neck, and his hands were suddenly moving faster than they ever had before.  They trailed across her stomach and up her sides to scarcely brush her breasts, something he'd never done before.

            Sarah backpedaled quickly and his hands moved to rest safely across her back, but he did not let her go and he did not stop kissing her.  Soon his tongue was sliding against her lips, across her teeth until she moaned and oh, this was new and dangerous territory.

            He felt her shaking underneath his grasp.  Felt waves of nervousness and confusion and outright fear radiate from her but he didn't stop, not when he needed to feel her there with him so badly, to know that he had made the right decision.  Her hands came down to his chest as if to push him away but froze there, palms flat against his beating heart.  And she collapsed against him.  Pulled her mouth from his and slumped against his chest and pressed her ear to that beating heart, to hear it and feel it and know that he had not deceived her.  She didn't want to play games with him, not today.

            Jareth's heart beat faster as he wrapped his arms tighter around her – what was this?  Was this just the aftershock of seeing one of her friends take sick from something she didn't understand?  Tortures above, why was she so silent?

            Suddenly she pulled back, laughing a nervous, embarrassed laugh and took a deep breath as though to clear her lungs of musty air.

            "Thank you," she said, thinking he was truly hers.  "For everything."  And she stood, and he with her, and as they walked to the castle he still held one protective arm about her.  He had found no reassurance.

~

            They talked about nonsense things throughout dinner.  Petty, irrelevant things and Sarah lied and said she'd gone to see Ari, and yes, she was fine.  And she hoped she was, and swore to herself that first thing tomorrow she would see her for real.  However, she decided, if she felt so moved as to bring a gift, she would bring flowers from the castle garden.  She'd had enough of the damned Goblin City to last her awhile, so that she did not particularly want to go out again – but then, she was quickly finding she didn't want to stay in the castle with Jareth very much either.

            Something was most distinctly Wrong.  Not that things had ever felt, well, capital-r Right with him either, she felt as though the very bricks were staring at her, waiting for something to go down.  And something did.

            "Sarah, come here."  Sarah came, walked from the other end of a foolishly long table to stand with Jareth, to let him lead her to a window and run his hand through her hair.  "I want to give you this."  He said softly, conjuring a crystal.  Sarah took it curiously, and the moment it was in her hands it melted away into a small white box.  Sarah's breath caught in her throat and she couldn't look at Jareth, though she could feel him looking at her with smiling eyes.  Oh, she'd been a damned fool.

            Her hands were steady as she opened the lid, because she knew what was in it, she knew and could feel that goofy grin spreading on her lips again, and her mind was already spinning with the best way to say yes – 

            A strangled gasp tore from her throat.  Tearless sobs began to wrack her body; her hands spasmed and the box with the jeweled owl pendent fell to the floor.  Her head jerked and she looked at Jareth, her eyes filled with fire and flood.

            "Who are you getting married to, Jareth?"  His hand froze midway to touch her cheek and the colour drained from his eyes till they were grey and his skin a deadly pallor.

            "Sarah –"

            "Who are you getting married to?"

            "Sarah, you do not understand –"

            "I saw the goddamn ring, Jareth."  She was shouting now, her voice cracking in an unbearable way.  "Don't try and tell me it isn't true, because I saw it, and I know.  Who are you getting married to?"

            "Sarah –"

            "Stop saying my name!"

            "Then stop interrupting me!"  He was yelling now too, why couldn't he stop?  She took a step back at that, and he grabbed her wrist to keep her from retreating.

            "Don't touch me!"

            "Please, listen to me," he said, his voice down to a lower decibel but hard as ice.

            "No!"  Sarah cried, trying to wrench herself free.  He grabbed her by the shoulder with his other hand and shook her, and only stopped when he noticed the tears in her eyes.

            "The marriage is a political arrangement, nothing more."  He said, softer and calmer this time, and releasing her wrist to cup her cheek and direct her gaze.

            "What do you mean?"

            "Will you listen?"  He wasn't going to offer her a choice, not really, but it was the correct wording to calm her a little.  She nodded, and his hand slid from her shoulder to her hand.

            "Don't."

            "I simply want to go somewhere private, Sarah."  He said, and waited for her to nod again.  She jumped and pulled her hand away accusingly when they appeared in his chambers.  "It is the only place where my servants would never venture," he said, by means of an explanation.

            "Well?"  Sarah said, trying to be hard but her voice cracked.  Traitor.

            "I signed a treaty with the Erl King – the King of the Elves – to marry his daughter in return for the extradition of my mother."

            "What?  Why?"

            "My mother… the atrocities she has committed against myself and my kingdom – they are innumerable.  The elves have been giving her sanctuary, in a feeble attempt to assure their security – they know I would not attack if they had my mother on their side."  

            Would you attack otherwise? Sarah wanted to demand, but she found herself speechless as another memory struck her.  

            _"This used to be the royal castle, but then the Queen went bloody insane.  You can see the damage._"  A troll had said it to her, in the middle of a large pile of ruins while she searched the Labyrinth for Jareth's crystal.

            _"Queen?"_ Sarah had repeated blankly.

            _"Jareth's mother, is wot I'm meaning.  Always on the vindictive side, never took her to be the homicidal type though.  Rumor has it she killed the King – meaning Jareth's father, acourse – "_

"Did she kill your father?"

            "Yes.  She did."  Jareth closed his eyes, trying not to think about it, but then the argument in the old castle painted itself on his eyelids and he whipped them open again.

            "Why are you marrying her?"  Jareth sighed.  Sarah was no closer to understanding than she had been in the dining room.

            "Because it is the only way to get my mother!  She has been living a life of luxury, out of my grasp in the Erl King's kingdom and I will not tolerate it any longer."  He took a haggard breath to smooth his voice.  "Sarah, marriage is one of the many differences in Above and Underground customs."

            "What do you mean?"

            "Clara has a lover, it is understood.  The vows are only a ceremony, especially to the two of us.  She knows I have no romantic interest in her."  Sarah's eyes, which had been slowly melting, were suddenly ablaze.

            "You want me to be your mistress?"  

            "It is expected, Sarah.  I have no interest in spending my nights with her.  You are my love."  Again, he tried to hold her, but she pushed him away.

            "Don't.  Don't touch me, don't try and tell me you love me.  How can you marry her?  There must have been some other way."

            "Sarah, just because we cannot be married at this moment does not hamper our relationship."

            "How can you say that?"  She was shouting again, she couldn't help it.

            "My people, the Erl King, they all see it is evident that I love you.  They know I will take another, they expect it."

            "Oh, so this is about living up to someone's expectations that you have a whore?"

            "No!"  He took both her wrists then, needing to hold on to her to hold his temper.  "I mean that I love you, and I intend to be with you – no one will care."  He was laying himself so bare before her.  How many times had he said he loved her?

            "I'll care!"  She screamed, trying to twist away from him as he held her tight.  "I care that someone else gets to wear your wedding band!  For Christ's sake, Jareth she'll be your wife!"

            "She means nothing to me."  He growled.

            "You're hurting me.  Jareth?"  She stumbled back but he kept his iron grip on her wrists.

            "Please, understand."  He was begging her.  The Goblin King was begging, what had she done to him? 

            She kept stumbling until her back hit the wall, and Jareth took advantage of that fact to pin her arms against it.  He could feel her anger being replaced my fear, saw the tears that had been building in her eyes were beginning to tumble.  Slowly he moved to kiss them away, a kiss against either cheekbone before letting his lips come to hers.  He let her go, and her hands fell to her sides.

            "Please," he whispered softly, touching his forehead to hers, "understand."

            "I understand that politics and revenge mean more to you than love."  She spat.  One gloved hand flew back but hesitated in the air, and in that hesitation she did what he could not.  She slapped him, leaving a hard, red stain against his pale skin.

            He stumbled back, stunned.  One hand was raised to his cheek, touching the raw skin hesitantly – and the other he held before his disbelieving eyes.  He would never hit a woman.  He wouldn't.  What had that traitorous hand been about to do?

            He turned his hand over and over again in the air.  Sarah stood, staring with him for a moment.  How could he say he loved her?

            She fled the room, and Jareth made no move to follow her.


End file.
